Wednesday, November 25, 2009

ENGINE DROPPED OFF


25 November 2009:  Dropped off the original block that came with my jeep at Piqua automotive to have magna fluxed and cleaned up.  As this was the original engine that I received with the vehicle I wanted to have it rebuilt to keep with the jeep. Received bad news on 3 January 2010 when they called and said they found a crack in the block that ran from the valve seat down the cylinder wall.  The bad thing is that the crack extends up the cylinder wall and continues along the flat portion of the block face.  I was told that if the crack was only in the cylinder wall, it could be machined and sleeved and still have years of use left in her.  I was given a couple of names by the men at P.A. in the area to try and contact about repairs but found no luck with anybody that was comfortable or had the knowledge to weld a 60-year-old cast-iron block.  If anybody knows of a way around this, please contact me as the plan will always be to return that engine to the jeep.  The biggest reason for wanting to do this is because of the rebuild tag that is welded to the side of the block.  The other reason is the engine number that is stamped above the water pump is the number that was attached to my jeep when originally titled in California.  I’m not sure if this is the original vehicle ID number, but it’s what I have to work with.  The rebuild tag tells the story of my M38A1’s service.  It was delivered to the Japan Ordnance Command, shop OOD, in March of 1957 for overhaul.  The rebuild was completed on May 14, 1957.  If anybody knows the details of these shops and their general location, protocol, service area, etc., I would love to hear from you.