Sure Paul,
you know from the Pre-XK forum that my MKIV engine block had developed a collapse from cyl nr 4 to the coolant passage in the cast iron block. No-one will ever figure out if it was just wear or if the gudgeon pin had seized (did not look as if it had) or the exhaust valve had broken (the valve dish was found in a pretty beaten shape inside the coolant passage in the block) but nevermind, 1st rebuild of this engine since 1976 and many things were not kosher.
Cheers!
Based on all your reports, it sounds fairly bad.
Cant blame me! When it lived here, I never touched it!
I knew a guy with a flathead Ford that had developed a crack that went across the deck and turned the corner a couple inches down a cylinder. The first idea was to weld the crack up and remachine, but that apparently didnât work because the cast iron was âporousâ. The welder said you hit it with the torch and the metal just melted away from you, leaving an ever-widening gaping hole. Nobody was sure whether this was a crummy casting to begin with or something that happened with age.
No I canât, and I wouldnât. 
I think all of that was done before Bud Kalland bought it from the Kruse auction in Oklahoma. And besides, when you buy a 50+ year old car, anything is possible! 
Cheers!
Ya had me at âpushrod Jaguar engine.â
Hi,
In this case there was plenty of room to just sleeve the block, back to a slightly smaller oversize bore.
The block did not look bad at all, but Jaguar stated back in 1946 that it should âhave cylinder liners fittedâ if it had been bored to 0.040â oversize.
In my case the original bore (3 1/2 Litre) was 82mm. But the pistons fitted in the engine turned out to be 3.4L 8:1 pistons. 83mm. Plus 0.030â oversize. :-o
Stroke is only 110mm.
Cheers!
I can barely read my phone from 110 mmâŚ
My ârentsâ Auburn was 120 mm.
Back in the sixties know of several older owners with flathead ford v8 that developed crack on outside of block and standard procedure was to drill hole at each end of crack so the crack wouldnât run while being repaired then take Oxy-Acetelene torch with rosebud heating tip and float flux coated brass in the crack supposedly would last till engine was overheated again.
Yeah, I think brazing was what they eventually did to this engine, too.
I have brazed cracks in cast iron, on a few blocks, and on old coal stoves. Still helps to heat the entire piece, being brazed.
War story time!
Back when I was a lowly co-op student at a power plant in Sanford, FL, the turbine failed and Westinghouse came up with a redesign to supposedly prevent it from happening again. This mod involved some machine work followed by some welding on the main turbine housing â which weighed 80 tons. For the machining, they basically made the housing itself into a lathe, mounting a centered shaft and a motor to drive it. Guy sitting on the housing hitting a knob every time it came past him to advance the cut a little.
There were to be two welds. Each weld was about a foot long and three inches deep. No, boys, they didnât find someone who could lay down a 3" deep weld bead. Rather, they would make a single pass, then theyâd come back and X-ray that pass (this was a critical weld) and if it wasnât up to snuff theyâd have to grind out that pass and do it again.
Meanwhile, thermal expansion was an issue, so before they even started they erected a tent over the whole ^%&# thing and installed a half dozen gas-fired blowtorches aimed at various points around the housing and left it for a few days to warm up. Then the welder would have to venture inside that tent, make a pass, then come back out. Then it was the X-ray techâs turn. Fun!
FP&L had a long-standing policy that anyone who got certified as a welder would get a 10-cent bump in pay, no matter whether they were a turbine operator or a desk jockey. Over the years quite a few people had taken advantage of this policy. As this job progressed, more and more welders refused to go back into that tent, so they were grabbing all these certified welders â some of whom hadnât welded in years â and sticking a welding hood on them and sending them in.
Some anonymous joker drew up a cartoon that got posted around the site. It showed a tent with flames coming out the opening, and a welder standing there with his hood up and a dime in his hand. He said, âDamn the big dime! I quit!â
Wow.
Iâd be allllll over that extra 10 cents.
Wonder why they didnât just use Thermite!
To be fair, this was 1974 or '75. A dime then was worth a dime.
In 1975, I had a PT job at a local Checker Auto Parts: min. wage was $2.25/hour.
$2.35/hour would not incentivize me to go get welding certification!
The secret to welding cast iron is preheating large area beyond the weld area but also controlling the cool down period afterwards to prevent cracks developing next to the repair area because of to rapid of a cool down.
Years ago I scavenged a Taiwan made vise that was broke in half. Nearly everyone that seen it laying in the floor made some snide remark bout me saying I was going to repair it. It was an ongoing joke for several months during the summer that year. When winter finally set in for the year I told the boss I was ready to put the two halves together. We had a large pot belly stove we heated the shop with and that evening the clean out compartment was full of coals and ash. I grabbed the torch threw the rosebud tip on it and proceeded to get it cherry red all over, once about 80-90% of it was cherry red I commenced to laying the brass in the V channel I had created with the grinder. After brazing the halves together I opened the cleanout door to the stove and placed the vise on top of the hot coals, then raked as much ashes as possible to cover t up. I then proceeded to feed the stove with some good all nighter sticks of wood and cut the draft down so it would simmer most of the night. Next morning the vise was still barely warm to the touch. An elderly customer after it was repaired offered me 20 dollars for the vise and used it for years bout 2-3 times a year he would comment used my vise yesterday its still going strong no problems. This was a 8 inch vise so fairly pricey when new even being Taiwan import.
My main reason for repairing it was more to satisfy my curiosity about whether it could be done or not more then anything else.
I have a question⌠is this factory or am I looking at something really bad? Its very messy so doesnât seem factory to me but I may be wrong.
I think itâs factory, they were messy alright!
Hi,
It depends on what you mean. I think the strokes of some material around the after drain etc are a POâs attempt to fight rust, but the sheet metal and welding looks about the same as my 1975 XJ6C when we had the whole engine bay sandblasted 12 years ago. (sans engine, auxilliaries, front wings etc.) New engine harness, new alternator harness, rebuilt engine and things were much improved. I just I would have replaced the fuse box also at the time.
Cheers!
Its usual factory, those parts are hidden by the heat shield so if the client cant see it its not a problemâŚ
