Should I even mess with this?

[kornball426]

I found this Dart Big M block on eBay and I dunno, it's got a big chunk out of the bottom of one of the jugs from what looks like a rod went flying. It's a tall deck and the guy said he was running a 4.75 inch crank, he claims with a shorter crank it would be fine. I want to build a BBC with a 4.25 or 4.375 crank. Would you even bother messing with something like that? That block would set you back about 2,200 bucks new and it's currently only 300 bucks plus 200 shipping... Which is why I'm thinking about it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DART-BIG-M-BIG- ... es&vxp=mtr

 

[GuysMonteSS]

Thats quite a chunk of metal missing.Without having a machine shop to check it,I'd say its a crapshot.
Could be a real good deal,or an expensive pile of scrap metal.
Although it might be possible to have it sleeved :?:
Guy

 

[kornball426]

Yeah that's what I was thinking, it could probably be sleeved and I figure since he said it was a 632 cubic inch, with a 4.75 inch stroke... That means it had a 4.60 bore. Dart says the max bore on the Big M is 6.625 that's almost the end of the life of that block, not even taking into account the damage getting a sleeve that big made and installed could be quite costly. I wonder how much that chunk compromised the strength of the block?

I kind of want it, but I'm not a gambler... And 500 bucks is a lot of money to me to throw away on a possible loser. So I don't know.

 

[JBreu]

I dunno if I'd mess with it, dart or not...Maybe bring the E-Bay ad to your Machine shop and see what they say??? 8)

 

[GuysMonteSS]

It might not hurt to contact Dart directly,send them that picture,and see what they have to say.Maybe they have sleeves to fit that block.Here is contact info;
http://www.dartheads.com/products/contacts/
Guy

 

[dogsht]

That is a good idea contacting Dart and saying with a short say 4.375 stroke and a (relative) mild street motor will this work? Depending on your goals obviously but I am assuming steet or you probably wouldn't be posting here. It would still be 582ci and take some serious heads to feed it. 8) I once looked at doing a 4.500 bore 4.600 stroke Cadillac for a 585ci. Not real acclimated to the 632 but haven't really seen anything 4.500 stroke or longer that I liked. I like the 4.375 stroke motor though. I actually looked more seriously about building a 4.400 bore 4.420 stroke 542ci Mopar journal Caddy though and was very impressed with one I saw dynoed. The heads to get them to breath are a whole nother deal though. Might find a forum with people in the know in regards to that block.

 

[hurst1979olds]

Id throw a sleeve in that cylinder and run it. Ive sleeved cylinders alot worse then that. Not a problem. Thats a steal for $300.

 

[kornball426]

That's a good idea guys thanks I think I'll do that.

Plus yeah it would be on the relatively mild side, well as mild as a 582 big block chevy can be... Pump gas 6,500 rpm range on the high side. More interested in it as a torque monster street powerplant than a screaming drag race engine.

 

[13bravo]

I'd also see if he can get some better pictures. The bottom of the bore isn't all that bad looking to me, I've sleeved worse.
It's what you really can't see that kind of bothers me. The top left of the one picture looks like the oil pan rail is cracked.

Believe it or not I think I have a 4.625 bore sleeve sitting in my cabinet. It's an easily gotten sleeve anyways. Remember diesels have some mighty big bores, and they need just as big of sleeves to repair them.

 

[kornball426]

I'm 99% sure that's gasket material that the guy was too lazy to scrape off... Because if you look in some of the other pictures it looks the same way around the rest of the pan rails. But will do...

Of course I'm doing what I always do... I have the money for it, but I'll be broke if I buy it and it'll be years before I'd have the cash saved up to build the rest of it. But if all it needs is one sleeve or just to be bored out then it's such a good deal I'll be kicking myself for not buying it.