Baxter Culver,
It occurred to me that we have had a couple folks who have had cracks at the
tapped holes in the block. One in Texas that caused the owner to obtain a new
block, after a couple head gasket problems. He found another block and is in
the process of building a new engine.
Another FOT member had a mysterious failure with a gasket and cured it by
using a standard gasket, to finish the season, which might be more forgiving
than the steel or copper.
I sent a block to the machine shop, last month, and they discovered cracks in
the "short" stud holes (2 of them). I didnt know they even checked the block
for cracks. I am glad they did/do.
Could this could be a contributor to the problem? I think so.
The machine shop says to clean the area with carb cleaner and see if there is
"wet line" where the crack might be. The carb cleaner will collect in the
crack and be the last to dry and will serve as a preliminary check before
dismantling the engine completely and doing a final check.
Good hunting,
Joe Alexander
|