Engine Block Corrosion

How do you know if it’s too much.....?
1988 454 I started to clean up my engine. I was going to rebuild the raw water pump, oil pan gasket and rear main seal (for reverse rotation).After pulling this apart there is allot of scale in the block and intake. I’m not so worried about the intake. I know this is a loaded question. I don’t now if I can get pics that would help or not. The P/O pulled the thermostat not sure if this is due to poor circulation.
Thanks Jeff
I searched corrosion and did not net any good threads.Any suggestions would be great.

Lots of times "someone" will pull the t'stat to hide a freezed cracked block. It allows the water to pass thru without pressure and minimizes a leak. A t'stat is a great thing to check for when buying a boat.

I know - I still have a block I'm going to drop in a guys driveway when I get the chance. I hope the "guy" reads this!

eric lavine wrote: any kind of corrosion is not a good thing, its, well, like insulation in your walls....the ability to transfer heat is very minimal with corrosion. one must understand when you pull the thermostat at times the water will glide thru the system without transferring heat, the thermostat slows this process down under most circumstances. there is not much you can do to remove the corrosion just short of pulling the engine and baking it at high temps at a machine shop. also breaking the corrosion loose in the boat it will clog passages

The motor is out on a stand.Ths project is starting to look like its not worth it.

A friend of mine stopped by to look at my issue. He said that he has seen much worse and that it looked much worse than it was. I’m not an engine guy he is. So on his recommendation we pulled a main cap and rod cap, the bearings look great no signs of excessive wear.

Any suggestions on the following: (454 reverse rotation)
Complete gasket set
Aluminum intake

Jeff, is the cam still in the block? Timing cover off? I'd luv to see some detailed pics of the timing gears; especially where the gear is positioned on the cam.

To add to Eric's post, PCM used a GM intake gasket with a full block off for the EGR(I'm not sure it's the EGR but it's between the pairs of intake ports). The fel-pro kit has a restrictor instead of a full block off. Skidim has the gaskets and I'm going to check with GM as well.


I also haven't seen any BBC cranks with the wick lines. The RR seal is pricey(2-piece for a mark IV) and is also at skidim.

vondy wrote: I've often wondered how much corrosion these engines could take. Seems like with water running through iron it's only a matter of time till they rust through. The passages in my block are nothing but rust.

David!
There are turn of the century (the last one ) engines still running and not rusted through. Rust and scale/sediment are two different issues. It may be of interest to you that a good cast iron casting is intentionally thrown out in the back yard of the foundry so it rusts. It called seasoning the block!!!

BuffaloBFN wrote: Jeff, is the cam still in the block? Timing cover off? I'd luv to see some detailed pics of the timing gears; especially where the gear is positioned on the cam. To add to Eric's post, PCM used a GM intake gasket with a full block off for the EGR(I'm not sure it's the EGR but it's between the pairs of intake ports). The fel-pro kit has a restrictor instead of a full block off. Skidim has the gaskets and I'm going to check with GM as well. I also haven't seen any BBC cranks with the wick lines. The RR seal is pricey(2-piece for a mark IV) and is also at skidim.

I’m not going to tear the front down. There really is nothing at this time that tells me I need to.
And thanks for the Skidim. Can’t believe I have not run across that site yet. Looks like the seal is $48 and change :-(
If I end up pulling the front apart I will get pics.
Jeff

truthfully, your block doesnt look so bad, I will at times with a short block (piston and crank still installed) steam clean the sht out of it and that does a pretty good job of getting the corrosion out....but, also you have it torn down pretty far and it does justify pulling the pistons and re-ringing, you'll have a timing gear set up front so you dont have to worry about a sloppy chain.
it wouldnt be a bad thing to tear it completely down and break the glaze in the cylinders with a hone, dial bore the cylinders, and re-bearing, pump, rings. if at anytime the engine overheated without knowing the history the rings may have shrank and lost their tensile strength. I too will run a tap down each of the head bolt holes to clean and insure I get good torque values when i torque the heads WITH new head bolts and sealer on the bolts. I too will pop the cast plugs on the sides because you will get corrosion build up in those areas also thus cleaning the drain plugs with a tap also. I went thru the learning many years ago and these are just some tips to help you thru the process so you dont have to pull the engine twice...

That was my block back when I had the water in oil issue.

Well I pulled the heads off today and looks like its Bust Out Anther Thousand…

This apears to be mostly sand packed in the rear water jackets

you have enough meat there to bore?

do they bake the block or hot tank it?

BuffaloBFN wrote: Thanks for the pics. Sounds like that boat ran shallow? Good call on looking into it. And I have to ask...why did my thread change your mind initially?

From what I got out of readying your engine thread it sounded like you had $ 2,500 or so into your cam set up. That kinada made my mind up to just re-ring my motor and run it.
Jeff

Replacement cams for that set-up aren't expensive(RH flat tappet). The 2k cam is to convert to full roller and maintain rotation. A RH roller cam has to be custom cut.

TRBenj wrote: BFNSport wrote: From what I got out of readying your engine thread it sounded like you had $ 2,500 or so into your cam set up. That kinada made my mind up to just re-ring my motor and run it. Like Buffalo said, the cam info shared in his thread is a bit outdated. Since then we have found a few sources for reverse rotation BBC flat tappet blanks. The cost on these is reasonable ($300ish). The hugely expensive custom cams were roller... no roller blanks ever existed as far as I can tell, so special ones would have had to have been forged. I grabbed a few extra blanks when I found them, and had Comp grind me one for our '79 BFN.

Thanks that makes more sense now ,did some more checking into.
Comp can get me a cam pretty reasonable like you said. But at this time my stock cam seems to be in good working order.
The problem right now is I have no interior, except a driver’s seat frame no upholstery and the corner blow molded piece for the spotter’s seat. I have an engine cover but not for this boat not even sure if it’s even from a CC. So I don’t really want to tie up cash in stuff I really don’t need.