Graveyard cars repaired 383 MASSIVE CRACKS

Pretty impressive the shop that repaired that 383, thing many years ago would be JUNK. They cut out the bad spots completely out, ground them down, and brazed them together, and they held to a running engine, AND they looked good on the outside! very impressed they managed to not only fix the cracks, fix the lifter valley blow outs, re square the block, but did it in a way that honestly being a welder myself, looks to be very very reliable. I wish they would have plugged that repair shop in the show.

I'd like to see that bill.

Shop must have refused a freebie for a plug.

I've had a lot of cranks repair by several different good machine shops, none of them ever brazed a crack in a crank, NEVER. There is a welding rod that looks like brazing that I have seen used by good crank shops when they added weight onto a counterweight to finishing the balancing

I'd like to watch that episode...which was it? Back in the day, an old welder at MINSY told me a story of him welding a steel plate on the side of a 440 block that had been in a Calif HP, having crashed and had an actual hole in the block. He 'claimed' it never leaked! Being an old-time shipyard welder, you never know as some of those old-timers had tricks even weld engineers can't figure out...and that is a fact!

Welding blocks has been done for a long time. In the 80's preferred method for some was an arc welder with certanium welding rods.

Part of the trick was to drill "stop" holes at the end of a crack to keep it from growing when heat was applied. Also had to get some heat in the block around the repair area before sparking it up.

The episode is a new one on the MotorTrend channel

Pretty amazing repair.

i dont watch the show not sure where it comes on .i see them on face book.must of been a numbers matching block for the to repair it.everyone use to braze

I was more impressed with the sections on the Daytona clone. First time I have ever seen it mentioned that the stock headlight buckets have to be removed from the front fenders.

I have not watched the episode yet, but in my experience brazing cast iron is not as strong as properly welding the cast iron, and the only way to properly weld cast iron is to have an oven big enough to preheat the part and then to cool it down slow, otherwise you will make the iron brittle and it will just crack again. Even heating a block to use brazing rods will cause it to get brittle if not cooled slowly. And yes, I have tried multiple types of special welding rods. I have used nickel welding rods to fix low stress places like the bottom of a pan rail, but high stress areas around cylinders or main caps etc. I personally would never attempt, seen too many failures. Plus, a block that has been preheated and then cooled tend to shift and a lot of machine work is required to get everything back in line, just cheaper to get a different part.

He did say several times that it was a numbers matching block and it cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 grand for the engine build. After the extreme heat on the block during welding, it required the cam bore and main bore to be re-bored and the block head surfaces had to be squared. It was overbored .040. It had bushings in the lifter bores.
That's a lot of cash to save an old 383 block. Also mentioned was that the transmission was not original. Worman kept saying the original block would increase the value $50 grand, which I find hard to believe, especially since the transmission wasn't original.

Nice job !

Depending on the year of the car, someone has surely figured out how to create a "numbers" block. And the result would be better than a patched up piece.

I've heard of that being done on other make engines.

"Numbers" trans should also not be difficult.


Disclaimer: I'm not advocating fraud. Just commenting on the possibilities.

I wonder if a buyer is going to pay the extra cash for a questionable block? If you/i was going to buy the car i think i would want to keep the bad block but put in a "good" block. Seems like a lot of work/$ just for a 383 block. It was a interesting episode though, Minimal shtick. They need to make more of those types of episodes.

When people over state the actual market value they are either stupid or greedy
Me thinks they are greedy

Since this is a TV show, add pandering to that. TV shows over inflate and exaggerate reality to make a better story and grab viewers attention.

In this case I'd call them all three: Stupid, Greedy, and Pandering.

The two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they often go hand in hand Cab.

Yeah, it doesn't add up - $50K boost for a fairly average 383 car (and I like 383s) for a matching engine? And the trans doesn't match anyway? $20K for the repair?
At the least, to me that came across as defending the restoration bill for the car.
And the repaired area on the outside of the block was fairly obvious; without any guarantee that the repair would hold up, it doesn't seem like a wise use of money.
I think most folks would put a stroker low-deck in, save the damaged block, and enjoy the car...I would...

Back in the early '70s, we used to buy ported race heads from Traco that had cracks in the combustion chambers, and take 'em to Cyclone Excel-weld in L.A. for repairs.
IIRC, they were the best guys in the area at repairing cast iron.
Pretty smokin' deal all done and they worked fine in the drag cars; saved the car owners lots of $.
May not make sense nowadays with the proliferation of good heads, and in aluminum to boot, which are easier to repair.

Agree on the reduced schtick lending a better presentation; I found the math & backwards intake segments pretty funny, though the intake raises questions about paying attention.
Seemed to me the lifters on that 383 were noisy for a long time on the run-in stand, but maybe that was just the microphone?

They should have just swapped in a good 400 block in there call it a day.

Agree 100% on the 400 block.


There is a lot of logging and rail industry in central Oregon that might do cast iron block work.

I used to take my clutch and pressure plates to Eugene on the Amtrak. That section of the business was bought out and collapsed to Portland.

I have been involved with a car club and judged car shows for many years. Our club does appearance judging, not concourse judging, but I have been around those who strive to make every part the correct one NOS etc. etc. And frankly to me it is only a select few who will pay tons of money for a correct car. To me it is more of does the car function and look to the casual eye like it did in the area built. The issue is whether to enjoy the vehicle and drive it or preserve it as a museum piece haul it in a trailer and store in climate-controlled room. I started driving in 1972, and by the time I was working and had money to buy a decent car, the muscle cars of the 60's were dirt cheap thanks to the two gas crunches. Roadrunners, Chargers, 340 darts Cudas could be bought for almost nothing, in 1975 I had the chance to buy a 440 6 pack convertible for $1,500.00 And I had the money, but the insurance was so expensive I passed.
I did buy a 1970 340 four speed Dart for $500.00 and drove for several years before making it a race car. When I look at or purchase a collector car it is to revive old memories, of street racing on Hwy Y west of town, Or that special weekend when you meet a girl etc. etc. I could really care less if the Alternator is numbers matching. I just want it to sound, look, and feel like it did in my youth.

Agreed. I love taking my 70 Six Pack car that was customized in the early 70s to a Mopar show. You would think I killed their puppy. I can see both sides. But these cars are meant to be enjoyed. Whatever that means to YOU.

This just in: my "unimpeachable source", as I call him here - who's had that same guy repair a block - gave me the info:

"Cast Iron Mike"
19106 22nd Ave NW
Arlington, WA 98223
560-657-7660

Passing it on in case someone here might need the info.

Season 15 episode 23

Mark said the car is worth 100k and 150k with numbers engine. So it was,worth the 20k to redo the engine.

That sounds to me to be a very inflated appraisal. There were many 383 4-speeds produced.

here is the video crappy but you get the idea..

https://youtu.be/pBL7U-9t_8I

Impressive that they repaired that!

What kind of car was this for?

I think it was a 1971 cuda convert.

Nope just a hard top. Just typical car show hype. This car perfect isn't worth $100K let alone $150K.

It made for a good episode, and got our attention!

Must be the world's most valuable 383 at 50k
For 50k it better be Hemi or as a TV show guy would say Hemmey

The guys that agree to pay to fix that block must be stupid,
Think about what amount of internal stress it took to break that cast iron from freezing in the valley, what did that pressure from freezing due to the cylinder walls and the rest of that block
Junk is junk
Sometimes you need to throw bad stuff away and go buy better parts to start with