Advice for Cracked Block

[YourBuddy'sTruck]

I'm hoping for some knowledge and advice.
My Dad has a '72 C10 that he bought a Crate 350 Engine to power it.
This was about a year ago now that he installed it.
Set in place and added break in oil, fired up and ran great for about 20 minutes.
At that point he shut it down to finish up work on the rest of the drive train, as in the transmission and rear end.

Then life got in the way and the Old Man fought of some heart problems, kicked back hard at some lung cancer, and finally with a pacemaker, he's feeling 72 yrs old again.

So he gets back to his truck and fires it up for about 20 minutes and says it's running really rough.
Decides to drain and replace the oil....and water comes flowing out.
He asks me and I'm thinking the Head Gasket or Intake Gaskets were poorly installed.
So he pulled the intake and it looked fine. He pulled the Head and 2, 4, 6, and 8 Cylinders are all full of water.
As he tells me of this, I think something is wrong, so I go over to look at it myself and I find the Block to have a substantial crack in it on the Driver Side.
See Photos....

Questions are:
Is there any way my Dad caused this?
Seams to be it was sent to him this way?
What would cause a crack like this anyway?
What would you do if this was your situation?

Please keep in mind that my Dad is not a professional mechanic, but I have personally witnessed the man assemble a basket case Shovel Head in his day.
Thanks for any advice in this matter.

[RustyPile]

My guess is it's a freeze crack.. Hard to believe it got past QC, but anything is possible. Did your dad expose the engine to freezing weather with only water in the cooling system??. Overheating an engine usually results in cracked heads and/or blown head gaskets, not cracked blocks.. Even though time has passed since purchased, it might be covered by warranty.. Have you contacted who you bought it from??

[BigBird05]

Something is fishy about that crate engine. There should not be orange sealant on the intake gasket from GM.

[saxart]

Originally Posted by BigBird05

Something is fishy about that crate engine. There should not be orange sealant on the intake gasket from GM.

Unless it was a crate engine that didn't come with an intake.

[Redneck Rydes]

I would have to agree,no anti freeze,also Big Bird is right,No crate engine from GM would have that much silicone on the intake gaskets like that.Sorry to say time for a new block,well beyond JB Weld

[Davidf]

Toast...you now have a new boat anchor. I doubt that damage is a candidate for stitching.

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by YourBuddy'sTruck

I'm hoping for some knowledge and advice.
My Dad has a '72 C10 that he bought a Crate 350 Engine to power it.
This was about a year ago now that he installed it.
Set in place and added break in oil, fired up and ran great for about 20 minutes.
At that point he shut it down to finish up work on the rest of the drive train, as in the transmission and rear end.

Then life got in the way and the Old Man fought of some heart problems, kicked back hard at some lung cancer, and finally with a pacemaker, he's feeling 72 yrs old again.

So he gets back to his truck and fires it up for about 20 minutes and says it's running really rough.
Decides to drain and replace the oil....and water comes flowing out.
He asks me and I'm thinking the Head Gasket or Intake Gaskets were poorly installed.
So he pulled the intake and it looked fine. He pulled the Head and 2, 4, 6, and 8 Cylinders are all full of water.
As he tells me of this, I think something is wrong, so I go over to look at it myself and I find the Block to have a substantial crack in it on the Driver Side.
See Photos....

Questions are:
Is there any way my Dad caused this?
Seams to be it was sent to him this way?
What would cause a crack like this anyway?
What would you do if this was your situation?

Please keep in mind that my Dad is not a professional mechanic, but I have personally witnessed the man assemble a basket case Shovel Head in his day.
Thanks for any advice in this matter.

You say water several times not anti freeze . If the block had straight water in it I would say it froze given as to where you live. Block is toast

[gmc684x4]

I would have the Heads checked for cracks too if your going to use them on the new block

[YourBuddy'sTruck]

Thanks, Everyone.
That's what happened. Ice Crack.
The Old Man just used water and never drained it.
Sad, but it was probably the last thing on his mind or mine while we met with an army of Doctors over the passed 8 months or so.
We do have another engine laying around to salvage best parts from each.
This is another case of my Dad not wanting to bother me because he thinks I can't make time.
When actually there's nothing I would rather push everything aside for than to lean under a hood with him.

Thanks again for the replies.

[YourBuddy'sTruck]

Oh...and he confirmed that it was a Crate Engine that came without an Intake.
He installed the Intake....hence the gobs of orange stuff.

[sick472]

A water freeze in the engine of my 72 is how it remained in my hands to become the project that it is today. I had it for sale many years ago and had to put water in it during that summer figuring it would sell before summer was over. It did not sell , I forgot about the water, and it cracked the block much like your dad's. I figured it would never sell with a bad block....so I started restoring it. I am thankful for the mishap as I am nearing completion on a beautiful truck. Look to the bright side...you can now spend that time with him rebuilding the motor! The silver linings are certainly worth focusing on.

[gmc684x4]

If it was a brand new crate engine new blocks start at 1100 for a gm 350 one peice crank block summit racing skoggen dicky jegs
They do make adapters for older crank in newer blocks
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/rear...-small-blocks/

If its bored over rebuilt i would look at how much it was bored over and look for a doner block that can be bored to the same size

New rings bearings have heads magnafluxed for cracks and put it back together

[special-K]

I don't see anywhere that says this engine was a GM crate, just says crate. no matter now anyway. I know it's water over the dam now and doesn't make this situation any better, but I hope he learned his lesson and will always use coolant mixture and never just straight water from now on. There are many reasons other than freeze prevention, such as corrosion protection, for not running straight water.

[YourBuddy'sTruck]

Originally Posted by sick472

Look to the bright side...you can now spend that time with him rebuilding the motor! The silver linings are certainly worth focusing on.

Hard lesson learned. And you're right about getting involved and enjoying the project. My Nephew is around our area now too. We should all three get under the hood.

Also, I did not mention the supplier in case things got ugly.
And it's not bored over or anything extraordinary.
What we're after is a good old truck for an old man to drive when Ohio get too cold for Dad on his Harley. And that's usually only 2ish months out of the year for my Pop!
Rode the bike to every one of his radiation treatments last Fall!
Thanks again for the input fellas. Cheers!

[garyd1961]

As someone else said I would get another block and start over. You should be able to save most of what you have now. It would be a good project, it's not really as hard as it sounds.

[truckster]

Originally Posted by garyd1961

As someone else said I would get another block and start over. You should be able to save most of what you have now. It would be a good project, it's not really as hard as it sounds.

One thing - don't make any assumptions. Verify everything, especially clearances.

[vince1]

Yours wouldn't be the first to be used as a boat anchor. Otherwise it's probably best to be off to the metal recyclers. Out of sight out of mind.

[garyd1961]

Originally Posted by truckster

One thing - don't make any assumptions. Verify everything, especially clearances.

I agree take nothing for granted, check everything.
If both are the same bore size everything should switch right over. I would pull the heads and oilpan on the cracked motor first just to check for water damage to the internals, cam, rods, crank, and so on.