what does the outside area look like?

only brass/bronze I see is the bushing for the intermediate shaft.

it does "look" like a repair "braze/weld bead" around the cam bearing area. maybe a stress crack?

but then again I have had a lot of flash rusting while working/grinding/ machining blocks/heads and do have to go back and clean it up. but the cast iron should polish up like chrome and brass should polish up also.


scratching with an AWL is needed and a pic of the outside area of the block.


studying the pic a little while longer it looks like the color (brass/bronze?) is right up to the cam bearing ede. I wounder if it got a gorilla fisted grinder that maybe removed to much of the boss and then brazed/weld to build it back up?

maybe a chunk cracked off when cam bearing were installed at factory and a repair was done? ( you said it looked to be a virgin engine never apart maybe?)

Humm...puzzling indeed!