[grivera]

I follow Powell Machine on FB as he has an active channel and his posts are pretty interesting. Here are two in a series where he has started machining a 326 block - part 2 shows the decking process.

Part 1: https://youtu.be/0qs5JTcGWSU?si=zQEPpK_D57E1_7px

Part 2: https://youtu.be/QsoJ3sgSa2A?si=ewOI2djdq7gq55vo

[phil400]

Thanks for posting, he's got some videos, his HFT video was good too.

[Formulas]

Watched some of the first video and a question came to mind i wonder how much influence heads being installed on a Pontiac block affects the crank saddle issues he was dealing with ... interesting

[mgarblik]

Watched both videos. Every engine machinist has their own way of doing things to get the desired results. His method of line honing is significantly different from the way I was taught by my mentor and from the Sunnen training center. I have never seen any Pontiac block warped to the extent he was showing. But to be fair, I have never line honed a 326. 350, 400, 421, 428, 455, IA, IA2, IA2A, yes. Never a wavy block like that. The only block I have seen in that ballpark was a 428 FE Ford. Once the block is all warped like he showed. I would probably stop and install a set of cam bearings and test fit the cam. Because if the block and main saddle is all warped and twisted like that, most likely the cam tunnel is as well. And there is no fixing that without extraordinary effort. A 326 would not be worth it at that point. Also, I counted him stroking the line hone 16-20 strokes without measuring. This means he was using very light stone pressure while honing. I was taught to use very heavy stone pressure so the fixed hone will cut the high areas out and straighten the bore. Low stone pressure tends to just follow the existing bores and more or less burnish then rather than cut them. With the typical pressure I use, 1 stroke up and back will remove .0004"-.0005" per stroke. I generally like .003"-.004" to begin honing. He did flip the block to hone from both ends which is proper. If I have one cap that is going rogue while honing and getting big. I was taught to loosen that cap, just take the torque off it and hone the rest to catch up to the big one. That eliminates re-cutting random caps over and over. In the end, as long as all 5 are round, to size and not tapered, how you get there is not a big deal.

As far as the deck, what he measured was slightly out of the ordinary. .010" end to end is excessive. .004 across is typical. Worst I can remember fixing was a small block Chevy made in Mexico. It was .020" higher on one bank than the other and .017" hi/low end to end. Powell Machine has the same surfacer and BHJ fixture we do.