Hi, I have been advised to join your group for some help. I have a 62 Electra with a badly cracked block (both sides). I am still looking into repairing it if I can but in the meantime I have a 61 export block (low compression 401) that looks OK. Other than bolt-on differences (water pump, exhaust manifolds etc), my main problem is the oil pump. The 61 pump is in the "deep-end" of the sump and is much taller than the 62 low profile style. To change them over it looks like I need to drill & tap a new mounting hole in the block and slightly recess the bolt surfaces for the rear main bearing cap for clearance. Has anyone succeeded in this conversion before and are there any other mods to the block that I may have missed? Thanks, Rick.
Hmmm,,, depends on the kind of crack in the block... some can be ''cold welded'' .... if you can get to the crack to weld it,,,, if it is in the cyl area just sleeve that cyl....just have the thing pressure checked after you weld it to be sure it is solid..... oil pump- you might can swap the inside parts to your old housing.... just a thought.... Tom T. probably can shed some more light on this or Jim Lore.... but, the export engine probably had the same block with a different set of pistons that had a lower c.r. than those built here in the states...I am sure you can come up with a workable combo.....
Thanks Doc, yes as far as I can find the only difference for export is the low comp pistons and the auto advance weight setup in the distributor. Both blocks are std bore so sharing parts is no problem. I am looking at someone like Lock-n-stitch for pins to repair the cracks, only the two cracks add up to a long area to fix so cost may be a factor? Other than that the block is probably saveable. In the meantime, modifying the early block to suit the later oil pump may be the easier option- the pump housings are completely different and not interchangeable. I just don't want to start this before finding out if there are any other issues that I have missed.
I have a block here at the house that had a foot long crack right at the bottom of the water jacket.... on the outside,,,, I ''cold welded'' it by using my arc welder and a cast iron rod.... started at one end of the crack and weld 1 inch.... stop... go to the other end . ... weld 1 inch...stop,,,, go back to the other end,,,, overlap 1/2 inch,,,, weld one inch,,,, to back to the other end and so on....
I have same problem with my 364 block 1 foot crack at bottom of water jacket ........I bot a stitch kit but yes a lot of drilling and tapping ...... I am going to fill the water jacket with an epoxy block fill about half way up so even if the stitch is not perfect my thinking is the fill should seal the block Oil Pump -yes you can drill the block to take the later pump I pbly have to do the same thing to use the better pump in a rear sump pan .......... I dont have the phone number etc for Carmen in New Jersey you can help with details on that or "buickrodder" on ebay both excellent guys who can help with details on that ............I am sure someone here knows the contact info for these guys "buickrodder" my brain foggy this Monday am cant recall his name but have bot stuff from him.excelent info Here you go http://stores.ebay.com/buickrodder
Taking the 2 blocks to an engine reconditioner tomorrow for a 2nd, 3rd, 4th? opinion. Should have a better idea of the damage then.
