I just purchased a 1972 Dodge Challenger completely stripped and ready for a restore. The engine (440) and the transmission had both been pulled. The guy who I bought it from told me that he took apart the engine and said the previous owner had completely rebuilt the engine and had never started it.

So yesterday I pulled the distributor and looked down the opening. That was when I found this big whole on the timing chain side of the engine block. The whole is extremely rough and has dimensions of about 3.5'' in length and about 1'' in width. The whole cant be seen from the outside due to the timing chain cover.

I have no idea what this is or if it is normal. Maybe it is a rough casting or maybe the timing chain broke and put a whole in the block?

It does not make any sense to me why someone would completely rebuild an engine that is not usable, so now I am here left scratching my head.

Can anyone help me out?

 

Yeah I think im gonna be OK. I found this picture on the internet and you can see a hole in the same place...its just cleaned up. I also called the guy i bought it from and he sent me pictures from two of his other Mopar engines and they both have the same hole. He says that a lot of guys will take grinder to it and clean it up. I was pretty scared for a while though.

 

Yup, the plan is definitely to clean up the hole when I take apart the engine to find out what the "rebuild" consisted of. I share the same feelings about having a fragment fly off...It would suck!