I'm going to look at a 2nd hand closed deck block in the morning. Is there anything I should be wary of or look out for before handling over money. It is a bare block out of the car thanks

 

check none of the threads are ruined. can be fixed but avoid the surprise.
has it been split? if not check the condition of the bolt heads in the water jacket. they are a bit of pig if they are corroded, but again can be sorted if need be.
obviously you dont want any score marks and you do want to see nice even honing marks.
if its been kicking about you want to make sure the faces are not scratched deep.

 

Thanks mate I appreciate that

 

First thing you should do is to make sure the crankcase's are a matching pair to start with - ignore the arrows in the picture below showing the bore size grade, look for the matching pair of numbers on each half (83 in this case).
If they dont match - walk away from it.





Check the things mentioned in post 2 and be aware that quite often the CDB will need to be line bored/honed if its had a hard life.

Mick

 

Is that code on the bottom or top of block. How will I know if it needs to be bored/honed am I right in thinking that if the cross honing is worn then