Am I in trouble?

Yep, what engine is that?

 

Just dont tell Dad . Can be welded to build back up and grind back to shape if thats all thats wrong.

 

The bolt needs to seat on something to maintain clamping force and a seal; it could be the week link in the chain. Can it be welded and then remachined? Might be just as easy and more economical to replace it now or wait until it eventually fails. Are you prepared to wait until then or fix it now? Is it still seated on other side of bolt, if so only that side of the bolt would be under tension and prone to failure?

 

It doesnt bode well,, could be welded and redrilled I suppose,
how rare is the engine?
was there a washer under that bolt,,?
I can honestly say I've never seen that before...

 

With out any words from you offered. Like how exactly did this happen?. Just broke on its own?, While torquing bolts? any info would help out here.

 

That's an SBC.

 

Yes, not enough info. ~sololobo~

 

This problem is caused by the shoulder under the head of the bolt, after being torqued many times the compressed area cracks, then you're screwed.I'd replace the head and use new head bolts with washers.

 

man that aint nothin, just put the broken part back in place with some jbweld and use a washer.

 

It's a sbc. I took the heads off and a small ring of casting material came off on the bolt. I thought "what the heck" I'll see what happens. Well, trying to put any torque on it was like working with a block of cheese.

The bolt did torque afterward. The "head" side of the bolt-hole is solid and seems fine.

What's gonna come out of the hole once I start it? I would imagine that if it's torqued that all of the critical presurized places are contained by the head gasket.

 

Coolant!

 

Oh, cool.

 

You could weld it up an grind it down so you have a surface for the bolt to seat on but unless it is one of those rare as rooster teeth heads I'd probably just change the head.
If you are brave and don't mind taking the whole thing back apart later you could just leave it and hope that it doesn't leak.

 

Definitely nothing rare. I was trying to run this motor instead of building the one I wanted. I guess I just never learn.

 

just asking because I am not a chevy guy, but with the bolt going into the block would it leak coolant still if the bolt had sealant on it to protect it from leaking fom a coolant passage? and do all the chevy head bolts enter into coolant passages or are some bolt holes blind? either way it should be fixed, good luck.

 

you aint gotta build a new motor, just get some ready to go heads and swap heads/gaskets only. . unless you have some radical cam/piston proflie, its sunday afternoon work.

 

Are you just planning on running this till you build your other motor? I'm guessing this is just an old painted up stocker.

The threads should have some type of sealant on them anyhow, typically the head of the bolt against the cast isn't where its sealed.

Usually iron head SBC's dont have too many head gasket problems, if I wanted to save my cash for a good motor, and get by on this, I'd just pull the bolt, and put some sealant on it, if you haven't, and see if I could get it to torque. you said half of it is catching there, if its holding, then I don't see why it wouldn't seal and last.

Dont get me wrong, I despise hack jobs, and not taking the time to do things right, but I know budgets can be tough these days, and myself, I'd rather save money and build a good engine, then waste time and cash on that. Just toss the head in the scrap pile when you're done with that motor.

 

If the head is a rare casting, or it has alot of machine work and would be expensive to replaced it can be fixed. It looks like it takes flat seat sparkplugs so it's early anyway.

Get a carbon stick to slide into the bolt hole, and preheat the head in a grill. Then build the area up with Ni-rod. I've fix a few of these like this. From now on always use washers under the head bolts.

 

Fixed more than one of those in the past on sbc, not too tough a job.
Pull the head, and use a small burr in a die grinder to clean the spot.
Bust open a "D" cell flashlight battery and remove the center carbon rod. Insert the carbon rod in the hole to keep weld out of the hole.
Then weld with nickel alloy rod (the machineable kind) and arc welder to build up a little higher that the back "good"side. Don't weld too long at a time, just a little bit of bead, then allow to cool, then chip off flux and weld again. Continue till you are as I said, a bit higher than the backside.
Now you invert the head and work from the blockside of the head, bust out the carbon rod and carefully grind out with a burr, drill, reamer, etc. till you can pass the bolt freely thru the hole.
Flattening the top is ideally done with a piloted spot face tool in a drill press, but if you don't have access to those tools you can carefully grind the top back flat. More accurate with the spotface though.
Use the extra length bolt made for use with washers and use hardened washers, not cheap hardware store ones.
Dave

On edit: LOL Dyce, I stopped to fix a cuppa coffee, plus I type slow, you beat me to it!

 

i would marine tex it and watch for a leak,

 

By "marine tex" I assume you mean a pressure test, which wi;ll tell you absolutely nothing! It may hold coolant pressure OK, but fire it up and it'll blow the gasket out from under the head. Ask me how I know!
Dave

 

If the bolt is holding enough pressure to keep the head gasket from blowing and it has some sealant on the threads then you wont get a leak. One of those deals where it may run forever like that and then again it may not.

 

I don't think so. The casting is solid in that area, not a water jacket.

 

what about just respot facing the casting (or carefully grinding a new flat and square surface on there) then use a shorter bolt or make up the difference w/ washers.


jeff

 

Don't tell dad,

My son overtightened the temp guage fittting in our 8BA head and split the head . He didn't know about pipe threads. Course I gave him hell.

Go back in time to when I was his his age. I did the same thing with a fitting in an IHC 345 intake manifold. And my dad gave me hell.

Scroll back to when my dad was young. He split a block on a brand new IHC staionary engine with a pipe thread. I'am sure his dad gave him hell

 

^^^^^ I was just joking. It might be all his for all I know.

 

Unless something has changed,ALL first gen SB Chevy bolt holes go into the water jacket area.

 

Funnily enough, it is my Dad's motor that he gave me to use. It'll be another "dad's backyard" donor that I'll be building next.

I sure hope he doesn't ground me, the wife and kid will be pretty bummed if I can't take 'em anywhere fun for the next couple of weeks.