i'm refreshing a 81 225 out of a farm truck. the center freeze plug is oversized. measures 1 11/16 not the 1 5/8 seen on all other holes. engine doesn't look to have been touched prior. farmer said he got the truck used, no other info. anybody ever? guy @ machine shop said it must be a foundry bugger,

Yes, either that, possibly or there may have been a block heater installed at one time that required it to be oversized.

Although the block heaters that I saw were positioned on the rear right side of the block where the coolant drain was located.

Greg

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only an idiot would put a block heater right behind the exhaust manifold. like i said. apeared to be unmolested. never touched..

what's odd to me.. the size they chose to up to. nothing made in america used that size. i had to soarce one from england.

I'd have gotten a few just in case of an "oops". especially considering shipping cost. Probably a casting boo boo, and they didn't want to scrap the block for just that/ kind of the same way some had oversized lifter bores, or 0.001 or 0.010 under, cranks as noted by various marks stamped by the engine number..... does yours have any maltese cross's or other weird markings by the engine number?

no astoric's. nothing. like i said. unmolested. even if that one was made of different material. or something to give a heads up before it went to machine shop. low miles. i just punched it 040 and polished the crank. thinking i got off cheap. not that a 17.00 dollar freeze plug broke the bank but it's gonna give me a story to tell for years to come. but the rest of them including the oil galley plugs only cost 12.00 dollars.