Drill & Tap extra holes in a S1 block

[Nashty]

Can I just mark the locations with my heads installed on the block and then drill the holes out myself at home?

Is there some trick to this that makes it impossible to do at home?

I'll have the car apart over the winter and want to add the head studs to the car. The heads are ready to accept them and I have a complete set of studs.

 

[ronbuick]

Get a hold of Geno, he has done this.

Ron

 

[Otto J]

I would recommend giving it to a reliable machine shop, kinda hard to fix if it gets screwed p, They can put the block in a fixture to make sure all holes are drilled perpendicular to the block

 

[odell4o8]

Not trying to be smart, but you need a bridgeport , or vertical mill to do it right, you can do it on a drill press if you are carefull, just my opnion,

 

[turbodave231]

Pay someone to do it right. S1 blocks are nearly as hard to find as S2 blocks. Ohio George did mine.


Dave

 

[KendallF]

Originally posted by Nashty
Can I just mark the locations with my heads installed on the block and then drill the holes out myself at home?

Is there some trick to this that makes it impossible to do at home?

I'll have the car apart over the winter and want to add the head studs to the car. The heads are ready to accept them and I have a complete set of studs.

I think if you buy some drill bushings, and the head bolt holes on your heads are spot faced flat and a consistent diameter, you should be able to use them for the guide and drill them with an ordinary drill. They don't require accuracy to tenths of thousandths but they must be straight. A mill or a big drill press that would allow you to level the deck and drill them straight would be easiest. I would do it myself, but we all know what a low budget hack I am.

 

[Nashty]

You and me are cheap bastage brutha's Kendall.

I think I'm going to rent one of those big magnetic base drill presses. Looks like a heavy duty 1/2" drill on a right angle stand with a magnetic base. (I can't smuggle our millwright's unit out of here in my Scooby Doo lunch pail.) That would get me what I need for accuracy. I'm going to have a transfer punch made up at the machine shop the dia of the head bolt hole. That will get me the location and then the drill and tap will be a cake walk.

I'm going to go the depth of the stud threads plus maybe 1/8", that won't get me into water will it? I think those are basically bosses on top of the existing castings so they should be dry.

BTW, did you see on TB-S.com that I went 9.32 @ 147 ?

 

[Cheeseburger]

Make sure you have a nice thick deck before doing so!
Years ago my duttweiler 4.1 stage 1 block had receiver groves in the deck and the head gasket/piano wire was not holded up.
My engine builder thought it would be a good idea to machine the deck flat and go with 1026 gaskets..........we did and i ended up cracking the block right were the head stud goes into the block.
Could have been because of the thinner deck........i do not know for sure.

 

[odell4o8]

stage block

myself and lee thompson own a early oncenter block that has a crack from head stud to water passage hole, someone told me that they could fix it, i dont remember who, so it is collecting dust. good luck,

 

[EightSecV6]

Re: stage block

Originally posted by odell4o8
myself and lee thompson own a early oncenter block that has a crack from head stud to water passage hole, someone told me that they could fix it, i dont remember who, so it is collecting dust. good luck,

I have "laced" deck cracks before like this, it will be fine.

I would seriously consider using only a milling machine to drill the extra bolt holes, that is the correct way to keep everything square and properly located.Keep in mind, if you plan on using studs, you will have a heck of a time getting the heads on if you install them (studs) first if several are located a couple degrees different from the others. You can drill into the water jackets if you go too deep but that is no big deal if you do.

 

[postal]

I can't smuggle our millwright's unit out of here in my Scooby Doo lunch pail.

You need to come out of the closet publically METRO MAN! We all know you're a Power Puffer kind of guy!

OK here is a possibly dumb idea:

I know that you've pressurized the ole radiator a few times . Now six extra bolts holding those heads down will help minimize this problem. Now who ever drills them (a shop or you) is going to have to drill and tap in the right spot and at the correct angle. Now you wont have hardly any room for error at all or you wont be able to get the heads on with the extra studs. BUT....If you screwed up the placement slightly or the angle you could just tighten some allen set screws in the holes and forget you ever tried it. Its not like the other 8 studs got screwed up.

Now what if you drilled and tapped the holes for the next size smaller diameter studs? Are stockers 3/8" then get some 5/16" studs. that way if you are off slightly in placement or angle you will still get the heads on. Even though the extra studs will be a little smaller they should go along way towards keeping the heads down.

Jason

 

[Nashty]

Finally, something worthwhile out of your cake hole.

That's a good idear. Might reduce the possibility of cracking the head too.

My table lamp has more power than your fru-fru diesel truck.

 

[geno]

I did mine using a duplacating punch through the head bolt holes.
Then using the same punch with a drill block to line it up. Then i drilled it by hand using the other head bolt holes to dog the drill block in place.The trick is to use a pefect setup with tight bushings for the drills and lining up perfect over the punch marks with the drill block I woudnt try a mag base drill because it will drift If your holes are not perfectly perpendictular to the deck and you use studs the heads wont go over the studs if you install them before you slide the head on The longer the stud is the worse it will be. When i worked at Boeing i had to hit a punch mark with a drill block within .003 so ive done this before Sometimes we would use a bomb sight witch is a piece of clear plastic with cross hairs on one end. You slip it in the bushing and line up the cross hairs to center the drill block over the punch marks.

 

[Nashty]

Gene,

Did you make the drill block yourself (to bolt in place) or did you use one made up already? How did you keep it in place then? Does the drill just keep it in place once started?

 

[geno]

I used a drill block that has a slotted hole on the end and used the tapped head bolt holes to hold it in place If you want i will see if i can find my setup?I had a core drill made for tap size and a bushing made for the tap You have to use a bushing from start to finish drilling and tapping or it will drift or not be straight..
PM me if you want me to look for my old setup