XRMAN

Whats the max you can bore a cleveland block, is it differnet if its an american or australian block?

JG33

.060 max but you will have heating problems.
No difference between Aussie or American.

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TruBlu351

Even though you can get parts for 60 over, I'd limit it to 30. There's plenty of spare 302/351 blocks around if you look, so there's no need (unless you have an original GT etc and want to keep engine numbers). More meat on the bones = stronger in the bores.

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XE Falcon
393 Tremec TKO 9"

svo347

I agree with TruBlu.. 30 thou would be the limit, unless the bore was damaged & you had no real choice but to go 60.
If worse came to worse & the 60 thou cracked a bore you can always get a sleeve/liner installed, If in doubt get the block sonically tested.

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FPVGT

I thought that the aussie blocks were a thicker casting than the older type Yank blocks.

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russxr67

Another fallacy unfortunately.our aussie blocks are no better,only some of the later xe192450 nascar type blocks supposedly had more meat.It pays to sonic check every block as i have hit water with a routine 30 thou pass on one block.I know of one guy here on the forum that has a 60 over block (Workhorse,in his xd van) which apparenlty has no problems and is capable of 13 sec quarters with a very mild combo.Sonic checking will at least give some indication of bore thickness and ultimately allow you to check a block before you pour hundreds of dollars worth of machining at it.

svo347

Dead on Russ!!...

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davis

Ditto. Sonic checking is the only way to know for sure. Core shift and intentionally thin-wall castings leave a lot to be desired. Remembering that Ford only needed to ensure that they could be bored to 4.003" will help us keep in mind that engineers design to the minimum requirement. I believe that Ford once stocked .010+ cast pistons as replacements. While they may have also had others, you can bet that they were considered to be for racer's and not rebuilder's uses.

The XE blocks are not an exception. They have much beefier main webbing (not contoured like the production car blocks), but they are thin, too. The best case is to sleeve any block planned for a larger bore. However, by the time you sleeve 8 holes, you've got as much money into it as it costs to buy a new Dart or SVO block. I've been saying for years, what we need is a new Cleveland block!

:davis:

CLEVELAND JUNKY

Just get a standard bore 302 black block, every man and ther dog has a spare one collecting dust.