Broken engine block

[bigjae46]

That is absolutely fixable. May need to do some disassembly to make the area accessible. Will probably be better to MIG weld since it is more tolerant of contamination. TIG would require a lot more cleaning and prep work but won't splatter. Then grind and polish.

[sev]

i saw this many years ago with a red m3 vert in LA. I thought the motor was done, always wondered how it happened. Crazy!

[sapote]

always wondered how it happened

So do I, and had asked OP to post a pic of the broken fan that he thought out of balance and caused this. I think the crack started with the engine hoist chain on the Tstat loop.

[maartenv]

The car is at the garage so I can't post a picture of the fan, but the garage told me it was broken. As far as I know the engine in the car has never been replaced so I don't think the engine has been lifted on chains, or would there be other reasons to do that?

[sapote]

Works on clutch, rod bearings, oil pan gasket etc. might need to lift up the engine.

[bigjae46]

I’m sure if the fan starts to wobble it will cause excess leverage on the water pump and the mounting surface. The mounting is not very sturdy being cast iron.


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[SteelGreyM]

I don’t need more nightmares about this car…

[sapote]

I don’t think a radial force (fan not balance as an example) could cause this crack, consider the WP was bolted down with 5 bolts and 2 dowel pins. The friction between the WP/gasket/block created by the bolts does not allow the pump to pull on the thin section of the block to break it off. In this case, how could the broken piece also has the 2 threaded holes broke off but the dowel pin is intact?

But a force that pulled the WP rearward could crack the thin section, i.e. using a hoisting chain without the parallel bar to keep the chain at the WP and chain at the tranny in parallel. Without the parallel bar pulling the chain, the 2 chains come together at one point like a upside down letter V, and this created a pulling force on the pump that pulling the hook rearward. This force vector with the distance from the hook (top of Tstat) to the block is like 4" leverage and could crack it.

Another point is when install the pump, due to the dowel pins, one might have tried to tap the pump in with a hammer, and the impulse could easily crack the thin section cast iron. Or, during removal, using a hammer tapping the pump forward could crack it too.

[bigjae46]

When I see this…it is usually because some idiot dropped the block and it breaks off.


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