question about 318 LA block interchangeability

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69cudaconv

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Short story, I have a pinhole in #8 cylinder water jacket going into the lifter valley. Coolant is getting into the oil. I've decided to replace the block. I don't trust trying to do a repair on this. Question is what year 318 blocks will interchange in the sense of re-using my heads, crank, rods, damper, water pump, etc..
This is the original 318 in my '69

thanks in advance for any help.
 
Anything for many years. Unless you want a hydraulic role cam anything from the late 80's on bald will work.

Pretty rare to se a pin hole in the lifter valley. You sure it's not a crack, or the coolant isn't coming from somewhere else?
 
Any 318 will work up to the magnums, no oil to rocker shafts. No real problem with roller lifter LA blocks.
 
yellow rose said:
Anything for many years. Unless you want a hydraulic role cam anything from the late 80's on bald will work.

Pretty rare to se a pin hole in the lifter valley. You sure it's not a crack, or the coolant isn't coming from somewhere else?
Click to expand...

Nope, pressurized the cooling system and it lost 1/2 psi overnight. With the valve cover off, looking through the opening in the head that goes to the lifter valley, I can actually see a drop form and roll down about every 5 seconds. I had to sleeve #3 cylinder 17 years ago for a pinhole as well. But this one is on the valley side, not in the cylinder. I'm not taking another chance. When i bought the car, it had sat with water in the cooling system for about 10 years so there was a lot of scaled rust.

I am pulling it to tear it down to check everything else but if I only need the block then I guess any 318 from '67 - late '80's will work, right?
 
69cudaconv said:
Nope, pressurized the cooling system and it lost 1/2 psi overnight. With the valve cover off, looking through the opening in the head that goes to the lifter valley, I can actually see a drop form and roll down about every 5 seconds. I had to sleeve #3 cylinder 17 years ago for a pinhole as well. But this one is on the valley side, not in the cylinder. I'm not taking another chance. When i bought the car, it had sat with water in the cooling system for about 10 years so there was a lot of scaled rust.

I am pulling it to tear it down to check everything else but if I only need the block then I guess any 318 from '67 - late '80's will work, right?
Click to expand...


Ok, I was just thinking out loud. Lots of guys don't know how to pressure test. If you can see it there it's junk. Unless you want to stitch it, which is a time consuming effort. I've saved some old stuff like an Oakland block, some flathead that had a ton of port work in it, a 460 Ford block that was some special piece of crap and some others but it takes a ton of time to do it correctly.

For what you are doing I'd get another block just like you said and be done with it.
 
Cast in 1984 for production vehicles starting
88truck_3.jpg
in 1985 the roller blocks came to play.
I understand you can use them with either flat tappet or roller.

Copy of 88truck_4.jpg
 
69cudaconv said:
Short story, I have a pinhole in #8 cylinder water jacket going into the lifter valley. Coolant is getting into the oil. I've decided to replace the block. I don't trust trying to do a repair on this. Question is what year 318 blocks will interchange in the sense of re-using my heads, crank, rods, damper, water pump, etc..
This is the original 318 in my '69

thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...

Any 318 from 67 to the late 80's will work, thousands of them out there, cheep to free
 
Last 2 I got for free.Both good runners.Took them apart to clean and re-gasket.one is in my truck(roller cam) The other is in my 63 Belvedere. I like Teens !
 
Krooser said:
I use some JB and drive thru the summer....
Click to expand...
I'm in South Florida. Summer is when I don't drive the car. Timing is good so I can get it ready for winter. Don't think JB weld would hold for too long anyhow..

Thanks for all the info guys! This helps a lot. Now hopefully the teardown doesn't reveal any surprises. Coolant doesn't lubricate bearings too well.
 
69cudaconv said:
I'm in South Florida. Summer is when I don't drive the car. Timing is good so I can get it ready for winter. Don't think JB weld would hold for too long anyhow..

Thanks for all the info guys! This helps a lot. Now hopefully the teardown doesn't reveal any surprises. Coolant doesn't lubricate bearings too well.
Click to expand...


If, if, if you wanted to fix the leak..........drill and tap for an 1/8 inch PIPE PLUG, not set screw. You want the tapered pipe threads to lock the plug into place. Socket hex style because it's low profile
 
JBurch said:
Any 318 from 67 to the late 80's will work, thousands of them out there, cheep to free
Click to expand...


...........Careful there.........there was some overlap in LA vs poly in things like pickups. A bare poly block can be some difficult to identify if you don't pay attention. Make certain it's actually an LA block
 
I think the last year for the poly in was 66, and when you compare the two blocks with the heads off you can see the difference.
 
66 in US, 67 in Canada
 
A good source of a block may be a local machine shop. One if the guys I deal with has 30-50 blocks on the floor at any one time... Various makes. I've also found cranks from the same shop.
 
Anybody seen a 318 block cast by International Harvester? I have one from a D150 maybe 1976 vintage...
 
Well, I'm glad I posted. A member on this forum who lives about 4 hours away sent me a pm. He has a complete '69 motor that was pulled some years back. The price was reasonable so it worked out. I just need the block but hey, who know's what I'll find once I tear mine down.
 
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