Hemi Main web cracks.

Discussion of the 426 Street / Strip HEMIs.

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hobbeekid
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 2:58 pm
Location: Manteca Ca.

Hemi Main web cracks.

Post by hobbeekid »

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this board. I just logged on to here recently cause of the information that this board has. One thing I have yet to see here or anwhere else is any information on main web cracks that develop in the saddles of hemi / wedge blocks and eventually run up into the cylinder bores & waterjackets eventually causing leaks & putting water in to the oil.
I first read about these cracks in the I guess now defunct periodical HEMI
MUSCLE magazine & armed with that education,it averted me buying a supposed 70 hemi in pieces at a swap meet that looked like a bargain until I picked up the block and found the number two main cracked from the saddle that ran all the way up into the cylinder walls & water jackets.
I told the owner about the crack & he looked suprised at me & asked me "what do you mean?!!! when I showed him the split He did'nt say anything and I walked off telling him "I hope you don't try to sell that to anyone else without disclosing that "Now I wish I bought that whole engine just for the other pieces that came with it considering the price he wanted for it at the time.

Since then I've always looked for more info about these cracks and am looking for more feedback. I read that the 66 thru 68 castings were notorious for these cracks to develop & chrysler only addressed these problems in late 69 /70 & later blocks by pouring more metal into these critical areas. I've since bought a M P block and I'm thinking about outfitting it with a aftermarket girdle kit as I don't want to to take any chances with this happening to my casting. Right now I'm just looking for anymore feedback on this subject. Any experiences? Any imput on repairing these cracks would be helpful also for anyone anyone stuck with a cracked block & wondering what to do with it. to me it's just sad that
if you rebuild a cracked casting, it can't be all that it can be because of that mainweb handicap.........
Bailiesdad
Posts: 433
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2001 6:00 pm
Location: Maryland

Post by Bailiesdad »

The correct place for ANY cast iron block with cracks in the main crank journal or the camshaft journal areas is on the slow boat to China to eventualy become a recast new part..... :D
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