179HP block

[Errol62]

A friend has offered me a 179HP block for my EK van project. Can any one on the forum offer advice on this engine choice? He thinks it was from an EH. I seem to recall they are sought after for over boring due to thicker cylinder wall casting. Any information about crank selection and availability would be gratefully accepted. I might want to run longer stroke 3.25" if feasible. My current choice is a stock recoed 3.3 litre blue motor with pollution control deleted crow towing cam refreshed electronic dizzy and re jetted varijet carb. Any advice appreciated.

Cheers
Clay

[Brenno]

A HP block is the same as every other run of the mill red six's out there.
In some instances it could be worse as they are the oldest reds and may be more corroded in the water jackets than anything newer
Your current setup is better by a long shot

[Craig Allardyce]

Does the 3.3 blue motor have flat top pistons. If they are standard pistons they are dished and you'll have about 8.8:1 compression ratio.

[Errol62]

Thanks for confirming my thoughts Brenno.

Craig
Bought it as a recently recoed runner and haven't touched the top end. I'd say stock pistons. Probably done 70,000km since and hardly run the last 10 years. Probably be prudent to pull it apart before it goes back into service. Would you recommend using flat tops if I replace the slugs?

Cheers
Clay

[Craig Allardyce]

Yep definitely run flat tops if its a standard open chamber head. Should get you around the 9.5:1 mark I think. Lower compressions in the blue and blacks were for emissions.

[Errol62]

Thanks Craig. Didn't know that. Stock motor apart from the cam, advance curve, jets and disabling of the egr etc. I converted the varijet to manual choke. I was thinking about boosting the compression to run on straight gas but gone off the idea.

Always ran pretty well and got 22 mpg with trimatic 3:08 diff and 205 60 x 13".