Re: McCulloch VS57 on a 359 Straight Eight

Posted by Ross On 2011/4/7 5:12:07

A significant number of those engines cracked between the valve seats and the cylinders. According to oldtimers I talked with it was quite a plague even when the cars were relatively young. Bob Aller maintained that blocks cast in molds 1 and 2 were problematic and those cast in molds 3 and 4 were OK. This number can be seen as a single digit right next to the date cast on the lower skirt of the block on the drivers side. I have personally sent two of those blocks off to Packard Purgatory.

That being said, the ones that have not cracked by now are probably not going to crack.


For real high speed work for your speedster I recommend a five main engine. This is for reduced friction, but I believe the cranks are more torsionally rigid. I observe that all of the nine mainers after the demise of the 356 used huge vibration dampers compared to their lesser bretheren. And the 359 has the least amount of overlap of all with its extra long stroke. Not good if you're going to rev it high as you likely will with the supercharger.

Comments?