Ford 8n crack in engine

bluebrain44

New User
Just bought this ford 8n, I was gonna restore it to use But… Upon cleaning the engine I discovered two small cracks!

question is can this be repaired? I don’t have alot of cash in it and don’t want to sink to much in. just wondering if it’s worth restoring for me. paying to swap out engine when I don’t know about the transmission or hydraulics working seems too much for me… (I also don’t see any options on buying just a motor in my area, besides buying a parts tractor and not knowing if motor is good)

I have seen video of drilling hole in block , tapping hole , screw in bolt and grind head off to stop crack from running… would this work or would it need to be welded?

any info would be appreciated, I’m very disappointed by this discovery.

Also any chance this motor could work as is for a few years? (Hopeful thinking)
 

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Just bought this ford 8n, I was gonna restore it to use But… Upon cleaning the engine I discovered two small cracks!

question is can this be repaired? I don’t have alot of cash in it and don’t want to sink to much in. just wondering if it’s worth restoring for me. paying to swap out engine when I don’t know about the transmission or hydraulics working seems too much for me… (I also don’t see any options on buying just a motor in my area, besides buying a parts tractor and not knowing if motor is good)

I have seen video of drilling hole in block , tapping hole , screw in bolt and grind head off to stop crack from running… would this work or would it need to be welded?

any info would be appreciated, I’m very disappointed by this discovery.

Also any chance this motor could work as is for a few years? (Hopeful thinking)
I don't remember for sure if those are "blind holes", if so I would suspect someone in the past put it together without cleaning the bolt holes of any oil, coolant, and debris and the resulting pressure when the bolts were torqued down hydraulically fractured the block.

If was going to put this thing together to give it a chance and to check out the rest of the tractor I would install studs with nuts in those locations rather than bolts to grab as many threads down in the block as I could.

In the right location and with enough $$$ it could probably be "furnace brazed, it would be no small feat to gouge out those cracks enough and weld them successfully and in this era shops that would tackle and successfully complete such a repair are going to be few and far between, I'm afraid!
 
I don't remember for sure if those are "blind holes", if so I would suspect someone in the past put it together without cleaning the bolt holes of any oil, coolant, and debris and the resulting pressure when the bolts were torqued down hydraulically fractured the block.

If was going to put this thing together to give it a chance and to check out the rest of the tractor I would install studs with nuts in those locations rather than bolts to grab as many threads down in the block as I could.

In the right location and with enough $$$ it could probably be "furnace brazed, it would be no small feat to gouge out those cracks enough and weld them successfully and in this era shops that would tackle and successfully complete such a repair are going to be few and far between, I'm afraid!
They are all open. My money is going toward a replacement block.
 
Well I am cleaning it up , waiting on some bolts to be delivered so I can put all back together and get it running… see what works and what doesn’t .. thanks for advice
 
Well I am cleaning it up , waiting on some bolts to be delivered so I can put all back together and get it running… see what works and what doesn’t .. thanks for advice
I would recommend using a sealer like Permatex Indian Head gasket shellac on the head gasket and maybe it will seal enough so you can check out the rest of the tractor.
 
Has anyone here ever used sodium silicate/liquid glass? I know it was popular decades ago.I remember we had a '60 Catalina that cracked a head on vacation once and my Dad put some K&W block sealer in it and he drove the car for several months before replacing the head.
 
If you're going to go through the trouble of putting it together, maybe at least V out the cracks. Apply some JB Weld. Smooth it down. Use a abundant application of head gasket sealer under the head gasket.

Maybe you get lucky.
 
Running engines are really not that hard to find. I have done it twice. I paid $700 for the last one, a complete running engine , side mount. The fellow was putting a V8 in the tractor and sold me the one in the machine, I even got to see it running before he removed it. I had an oil burning front mount, which I still have sitting in the barn. No cracks in the old engine but needs rebuilding, I would sell it, I'm in NW Illinois. You can find them on generators sometimes still running and for sale. You can just buy an entire running other tractor and make one good one with lots of parts left over.
 
A word of caution regarding the common practice of "V"ing out a crack and using epoxy. First, I am not opposed to this practice as the N Series tractor is a low pressure cooling system - heck I have done it myself successfully once. However, the best way to fix a crack in a sensitive area like you have is to use something like a lock-n-stitch. If you V out a groove and the jb weld does not hold, you destroyed your chance to use a lock-n-stitch method because it needs that material you ground off.

If you want to keep this block, check into doing the repair correctly due to the location of your crack.
 
A word of caution regarding the common practice of "V"ing out a crack and using epoxy. First, I am not opposed to this practice as the N Series tractor is a low pressure cooling system - heck I have done it myself successfully once. However, the best way to fix a crack in a sensitive area like you have is to use something like a lock-n-stitch. If you V out a groove and the jb weld does not hold, you destroyed your chance to use a lock-n-stitch method because it needs that material you ground off.

If you want to keep this block, check into doing the repair correctly due to the location of your crack.
Dan Has repaired Ford tractors I would throw away this is not his first rodeo listen to him.
 

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