Interesting observation with a 59L block- Still pretty thick @ 3 3/8ths bore

[Tim Ayers]

Some of you know the struggle I'm going through to find an usable block.
Working with Ronnie Roadster (thank you again, Ron), we are hoping that we finally found one we can use. I was concerned since this block was already punched out to 3 3/8ths.
The motor was given to me by my friend and was given to him when he purchased a '35 Coupe. Guy he bought the car from said the motor was "toast".

Many deem 3 3/8" to be the outer limits of flat head engine. I was pleasantly surprised to hear how much "meat" is still left after being bored out so big.

Here are the results after Ronnie did some tests:

CYL Top Front Bottom Rear
#1 .130 .156 .161 .111
#2 .122 .151 .173 .122
#3 .142 .146 .178 .118
#4 .178 .155 .198 .188
#5 .165 .134 .158 .167
#6 .115 .129 .177 .130
#7 .119 .134 .166 .143
#8 .192 .105 .177 .182

Next, Ronnie measured the bores and found there is a good amount of taper to each bore

#1 is an additional .009 worn
#2 .008
#3 .008
#4 .007
#5 .006
#7 .006
#7 .006
#8 .008

So, you can see this particular block is still pretty thick even after being punched out to what many believe to be the outer limits for a street engine.

During tear down, I was surprised to find this motor had Ford script four ring pistons. We didn't know Ford ever offered pistons in this large of an oversize.

We are hoping a .010" hone will clean it up. Good news is Egge offers 3 3/8" pistons in + .010, .020, .030" sizes.

Purpose of this post is to validate that sonic testing is crucial step in the building process.

It passed visual and pressure testing and we'll know by the end of the week if this one is cracked or not.

If it turns out to be good, we'll move forward and use it. This will make it a 290-ish c.i. mill.

Hopefully more good news to follow...