I need some advice about block repair... I pulled a junkyard 7.3 and took it to my machinist. He said the cylinders look good, but the three central main bearings spun in the block. He said it is possible to cut the block where the main caps mate and line bore the crank axis but he did not recommend it. It raises the pistons which increases the compression ratio and can cause valve clearance problems. He also had concerns about the accuracy of the long bore and engine geometry. His advice was to find a better block to build.
Anyone here have any experience with this kind of block repair? I am not all that concerned about the piston height. I have some prototype decompression head gaskets being made for me that finish at .110" thick. My target CR is 18:1 and I can always shave the pistons a little if needed. If the block really is junk I won't waste my time with it, but in Arizona the trucks never rust so finding a good engine without a truck wrapped around it isn't easy!
Anyone here have any experience with this kind of block repair? I am not all that concerned about the piston height. I have some prototype decompression head gaskets being made for me that finish at .110" thick. My target CR is 18:1 and I can always shave the pistons a little if needed. If the block really is junk I won't waste my time with it, but in Arizona the trucks never rust so finding a good engine without a truck wrapped around it isn't easy!