So lets just say, I got screwed on a deal, and came to be the new owner of a flood car. The price I paid made the T56 worthwhile, but it, along with the engine and diff were all full of water. Full of water after 3.5 years, up here in new england. After getting into the diff, I found it wasnt bad at all, gives me some hope for the trans. But now I'm taking apart the motor pretty much out of curiosity.

Pics of motor

So, wont this thing be cracked in a 100 places? I'm going to attempt to find out once I clean it up some more. It doesnt have much rust. Once I lubed up the cylinders and gave them a few spins, which was very easy, I pushed all but 2 of them out by hand. The other 2 had a bit too much rust at the top and needed a tap. I'm just looking at this from the persepective of how easy it seems to be to crack a block thats full of water in place of antifreeze, and the many many gallons of mainly crystal clear spring water (mixed with occasional oily dirt spooge)I drained out the oil pan when I got it.. haha.. The antifreeze was still antifreeze at least, and the sludge into the rest of the motor was not green. Though I dont know if it would form a crack big enough to intermix while just sitting around cold anyways huh. No idea.

Anyways place your bets, lol.

Were any of the freeze plugs popped? if not odds are the block did not freeze.

if you can't see any cracks get it magna-fluxed to be sure. have the cylinder walls honed and it's ready to re-assemble. with fresh rings and bearings..

The coolant passages didnt freeze, all the winter was in the rest of the block. Theres pretty much no possibility it didnt freeze, probably something like 6+ gallons of water came out, with all the oil afterwords. Its been in my garage this winter probably frozen, but outside for at least 2 more winters. I just expected to be able to see some carnage from that, with just my eyes, lol.

as long as water has space to expand when it freezes then it would not have cracked the block.

Since water is heavier than oil it would have naturally settled in the oil pan. displacing the oil to the top of water surface. when the water froze it simply displaced the oil in the block.

The coolant passages did not freeze because of the glycol in the cooling system, and this may have been enough to insulate the rest of the block from freezing..

but I doubt it was 6 gallons of water trapped in the block. even if the cylinder walls were completely filled
5.7 litres of water is only 1.5 gallons.

any water the was trapped in the air intake tract also probably had space expand.

just curious how much did you pay for it and what year?

I would have the block magnafluxed to check for cracks and then if no cracks, have the cylinders sonic tested for thickness. That way you would know if it is rebuildable.

Skeeeter

If it were truly submerged it could easily have 5+ gallons of water in the block.

this is fine and good but at this point it is purely speculation.

OP did not measure the amount nor did he witness the condition the car was in when it flooded.


I am not going to argue about the exact amount, only to say the engine block also has 1 gallon, or more, of motor oil in it and the only way water had to get in was thru the throttle body / intake and whatever valves were open at the time the flood occurred.

Get it magna-fluxed if it passes, get it honed and you are good to go.

Well I dont know the gallon amount, but this is the pail I filled up with nothing but water (tops black, but i switched pails when oil started)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43721060@N04/13472254724/lightbox/
Its one of those 35 lb cat litter buckets. Maybe 3-4 gallon of water in it, dunno. It didnt just come in through the intake, it came in I guess through the dipstick, or wherever else. No one was honest about the situation, but when I checked the news, the street I bought the car on was underwater from a river flood. Wasnt any place I didnt find silt in this car so I'm sure it was a submarine :P

And to who asked, I paid $800 for the car. 95 T/A. I drove a ways and had to rent a trailer to get it, and when I got there realized it wasnt the dirty junker it was being pawned off as, lol. But I said f' it.

Dunno if im scientist enough to pay someone to check it out, lol. This was already a bust, but I'll try and get a better look at it next week. My original plans were just to snag this engine and give it some new gaskets and call it a day.

I wouldn't even worry about it being cracked. Just cause water freezes at 32 degrees would take alot more to get it to freeze in a block. If it split you would see the crack.

Clean it up and build it.

I bought a nice 97 z28 for a grand but it ran and all and have had no issues with it's lt1 (it was put in my super clean 97 3.8 camaro)

I just don't see how even 5-6 gallons of water could expand enough inside of a block to do anything.

good luck will be watching this.

here was my lt1 after pan was taken off ( be very careful with the lt1 pan small dent can make them knock don't ask me how I know)

this is the dent on my pan that made motor knock



but how clean this lt1 was inside

I dunno....looks to be in good shape considering. I'd tear it down and get everything cleaned up real nice for a closer look-see.

I would not just throw gaskets at at and let 'er rip though! As already said, normally if there's freeze damage, it'll be obvious (big crack in crankcase area etc)....and I'd still pay a shop to give the block a good once-over.

A lot more obvious after a bit of cleanup, hah, and apparently some light, dont know why I got this far :P


https://www.flickr.com/photos/dr1dan...57643056124405
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dr1dan...57643056124405 (may or may not be a crack covered in too much other rust to see very good)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dr1dan...57643056124405

Yep…That's toast. Looks like freeze damage maybe…but those look like cracks...

boat anchor !

lt1 blocks are a dime a dozen, at least you have all the other parts to build one now.

Id like to think that, but Im going to have to give everything else a very thorough looking at (and cleaning, sludge igh). Not sure ill bother at this point, might be worth more in raw material.

I dont know if anyone else noticed in the pics, theres a bent/cracked pushrod. I think thats more freeze damage too.. not sure how really but saw nothing on the piston.

Gives me bad thoughts about the transmission :P

Is everything for a donor swap?

Was gonna put all this in my 89. It hasnt seen much of any action in a long time, but the T5 I put in has leaked since I swapped it in. And I've taken it out twice trying to solve that leak, to no avail. And now even the TBI is worn out, needs some new (probably unobtainable) bushings or something because the throttle sticks open when its running.

This was just supposed to be a cheap swap out, and of course 100 more HP so no complaints lol

Its for the best probably because I'm already in deep with projects. Gonna be black this time

Well at any rate you will love the LT1, I have a 97 camaro I purchased brand new and a 97 z28 fell in my lap for a grand and I took all the z28 stuff and stuck it into my super clean 97.

Think my 3.8 had even more power then your tbi 305 but it is an amazing power difference. Sucks the gas but it's not a every day driver now. It does what the 3.8 only dreamed of. I have a 97 3.8 5 speed firebird as a daily car so the camaro's massive drop in mileage didn't both me.