[Marshall V. Daut]

2manycars -
"I am one of the guilty ones. I put a B engine in my tudor in 1976. I replaced it with the original rebuilt engine 10 years ago."
Probably most of us who have been in this game for a long time are "guilty" of this same thing, Self included! I tried three different Model B blocks (one with VERY low mileage) over the years and all three developed cracks, usually in the exhaust valve seat area, but also elsewhere. The extra few horsepower gained by installing a Model B engine with the correct intake manifold, carb and head was nice, but it also meant an expensive water pump purchase and rebuild, as the B pump is quite different from a Model A. Knowing that B blocks were prone to cracking, I always lived in fear that this would happen to me - and it did, many times. I finally gave up on Model B blocks forever after the last crack I had repaired cost me $600 at a diesel engine shop (a 6" crack in the MIDDLE of the block above the main bearing saddle). Then a crack developed in the exhaust valve area. Bye-bye, Model B's for me!
I recall at the 1974 MAFCA convention on the Queen Mary in Long Beach that it seemed there were more B engines in those non-show car California Model A's than the old A-boner! 'Must have been a lot of Model B engines sent originally out there for so many to be found, purchased and installed in all those Golden State A's, all before the advent of the Internet. I wonder how many are still in those cars, or have returned to the more sturdy Model A blocks?
Marshall