My experiment "The Tractor Motor"

[jayb]

That is great news on the sleeves, hopefully they will continue to hang in there.

[Mario428]

Update on the Tractor motor
Season is over but started going tru water again. Was quite bad for the last time I went out but was committed to a Quick 32 I had setup at my local track. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately I stripped all the teeth off my ring gear on the first time trial. Did not get to race but did not torture the engine any more either.

Water was being pushed into the overflow but no sign it was going into the oil. Will be a few weeks before I pull the heads git some other stuff I want to do first. I have a suspicion it is leaking at the same place the ROL gasket was leaking. There was a marked up spot on the top of that sleeve. If that is the case then a cleanup on the deck of the block and the heads and try another set of SCE gaskets for next season.
Really really need a new block but budget may not permit, Catch 22 is if I spent a lot less money travelling to go racing I could swing the block. But what fun would it be to have a car ready to go and only be able to run at my home track.
Overall had a pretty good season, 4th place in the ADRA travelling points series, 2nd place at one of the tracks I regularly go to and 6th at my home track. One win, 3 runnerup's this year has me looking forward to next year already.

[jayb]

Sounds like a great season, Mario.  Congrats on the success, and I for one am looking forward to hearing the source of  the water problem.  Water leaks have become a subject near and dear to me lately 

[machoneman]

Any thoughts on hard-blocking the block 100% (no water in block)? I'm sure you considered same yet some racers seem to be able to do back-to-back rounds with only water in the heads.

[Mario428]

Any thoughts on hard-blocking the block 100% (no water in block)? I'm sure you considered same yet some racers seem to be able to do back-to-back rounds with only water in the heads.

Had never thought of that but I do want some cooling at the top of the cylinders. This is a bracket car that needs to drive around and go back to the lanes quickly.
Do not think the sleeves moving around is the issue, will have to strip the block down and make sure

[Ford428CJ]

Heres what really fixed the water leak problem.

1) You need a copper head gasket! Bigger the the ID of your sleeve but smaller then the OD of the sleeve.

2) You need to put an stainless O-Ring near the OD part of the sleeve! That will keep the top end of the sleeve from moving around and keep what little water out.

3)Anaerobic sealer is your friend. We used a little bit on the copper gasket.

I think it will help out a ton! You dont really need a receiver grove in the heads.

[Mario428]

Just got the heads off and did not like what I saw. Both head gaskets leaking in multiple places where the sleeves are the closest together.
This tells me the sleeves have either compressed a bit there or they are moving there when the engine is running. May have the block setup on a planer and take some very very light cuts to see if I can figure it out. If the sleeves are compressed a bit there will making everything flat again fix the problem? I keep looking at the Genesis block tread and wishing wishing wishing. LOL
The stainless steel o-rings are an idea but there is not much to the top of the sleeves and a groove would weaken them even more.

[Ford428CJ]

Making it flat again wont fix the problem of the sleeves moving around. It will happen again! The Poor Mans is .060 over and we o-ringed the very O.D. of the sleeve for a couple of reasons

1) it will help to keep the sleeves from moving around. It will hold them in place.

2) now you have a fire ring

Sleeves are stronger then the iron, so grooving it and using .040~.041 safety wire works well.

We also floated the bottom of the floor of the block with devcon. Then we hard blocked it to the bottom part of the water pump holes.

[Glenn N]

Hey Wes! Good to see you here. Sounds like the PM427 is pretty much dialed in there? That's one of my favorite FE builds. Hope all is well and talk soon! 

Mario your build is another fav of mine and has been really cool to see all the custom machine work and everything. Hope you get it sorted over the winter. Your Tbird is a wicked cool ride.

Glenn.