Broken piston!

[TheRoaringEagle]

i was on the freeway and i lost a little power and oil started spraying out of my hood so i pulled off and the breather was gone and oil was everywhere. the i found water in my engine. thought it was a blown head gasket and towed it to my house. opened it up and cylinder 5's piston was missing a piece of it and bits of it were found in cyl 1 and 8? i think.

the block looks okay, it was rebuilt 5+ years ago and is a 400 sbc bored .060 over. the honing marks are still there and there are no scratches along the walls. the tow truck dude (came over the next day) told me it looks salvageable even though the block is on its last rebuild and said i could just replace all the pistons. they look like 10-11 to 1 cr.

i can't afford anything special right now and i need the car running. what do you guys suggest i do? i want to build that block back up someday cause it has sentimental value and i love 400s but i might get a basic short block and swap the heads and stuff over until i get my hands on real money.

my options are to get a new crate engine or short block with a 3k budget or take my chances on putting some new pistons or possibly a whole new rotating assembly in there. anyone have a cheap short block?



anyways thanks, i'm kinda bummed out cause it was my daily driver and now i have to drive my sister's ford taurus so now she's bummed out. my dad really wants my baby out of the garage too (he thinks it's junk!)

[rocketman]

i would sleeve that block,and freshen it up.will be the cheapest route.

[TheRoaringEagle]

how reliable is sleeving an old 400 block? and how much would it cost? know any places nearby (san francisco) who can sleeve my block and install new pistons and/or the whole rotating assembly?

[indyjps]

circle track racers sleeve 400's all the time and are much tougher (high sustained rpm and overheating) on them than you will be. im assuming the extra 13 inches is your overbore and not an offset ground crank? pick up any short block just to get back on the road.

[TheRoaringEagle]

yeah thats the overbore, so you don't recommend getting my block sleeved? short blocks don't seem to be cheap here.

[Johnny Blaze]

A sleeved block, done right, is stronger than an unsleeved one. Check around with some of the local machine shops.