1958 corvette

How far did the block fall? Honestly I don't see it causing significant damage unless it fell more than a few feet. If it flopped forward onto to the water pump/shaft I can see that getting damaged but it can easily be swapped out, the oil pan should be inspected as well in case it impacted the pan. If you are stripping the block down, it should be tested for microfractures anyhow, given it's age.

KenF I'm sure meant a few "inches". That corrected, and no offense Ken, the motor mount failing will twist the engine a bit, and if it twisted enough, the bell housing may crack. Older cars are iron and steel, and should take a fair amount or abuse. Age will cause the tensile strength of the metal to become more brittle with time. If you can, look at what was twisted. Of course it's time to replace all the mounts, engine and transmission. Like KenF said, check the steel oil pan to make sure no dents were put in it and if so, did it damage the oil pump or cause the crank shaft to contact the pan. Not a bad idea to make sure the oil pan is level on top, and even replace the oil pump unless it is fairly new. A new water pump is in order, and check and make sure no crack were started where the pump bolts onto the engine. With the engine twisting, any oil, gas, or electrical lines may of been compromised, so a safety inspection of that should be done. I've been around older cars a lot, and had engine mounts go bad. Not an uncommon occurrence back in the late 40s 50s, and early 60s. Normally no damage happens, but it suppresses me that the water pump was damaged. Were both engine mounts bad and let go? It it hit any suspension or drive/steering parts, have that checked also.

Argh yes, I meant inches not feet

KenF, remember you're talking to gear heads, not girlfriends.

the motor mount on this 58 vette bolts to the block between the water pump and block. It does not have side mounts on the block. like most cars do. The oil pan was actually off at the time and there is nothing below the engine for the pan to hit. Was not for sure how much strain it would have put on the transmission mounts, clutch pedal linkage, among other things.

This is what you had break? Looks like the engine fell forward and struck the tie-rod?

yea it did not break. he was removing the water pump to get to the timing cover and when he removed the water pump bolts the engine fell. the water pump had a nipple that screws into the inlet and i am supposing it landed so hard on nipple that it cracked the water pump. Long story as to why i want to know what all damage it might had done. The dude is a geek, not a mechanic and i suspect his parents had a hard time wondering whether to call him melvin or chester. Any way chester started working there shortly after i did. He is a 9yr. friend of the owner. The owner is my brother in law. My brother in law has $$$. He now has 36 nice collector cars. Chester con ed his way into this job. He has been working on this vette for over 4 weeks now. It been on the lift for what seems like forever. During the 6 weeks he has been there he has produce 12 hours of work by the book. the vette has an oil pan leak and a bent fuel line. 1 hr. for oil pan gasket and about a 1/2 hour for fuel line. He made 4 attempts on the gasket so far. 1st time it failed he claimed it was because the oil pan was chrome. the 2nd time was cause the cover was chrome(timing), 3rd time, dont know what he was going to claim. Also blamed it on the gasket because it has inditations on both side for the dip stick. He has put a hole in the radiator also. I last i observed the balancer was not all the was back and the belt are a little out of line. It took him 2 &1/2 days to do wheel cylinders on a old cadalic. He grinded on the backing plate to enlarge the holes to accept the wheel cylinders. I do not believe this needed to be done. He kept trying to install them with the push rods(arms)attached with the break shoes on. I am no longer there because someone started messing with my work. In seven working days i had more things go wrong than i have had in 35 years of mechanican. I was assembling a engine i which i had purchased a new SCAT crankshaft. 3 day in a row i had problems with the balancer bolt. The 3rd day i come in and agian had problems removing the bolt, i which it did damage the crank and only because the bolt hole was so long and deep on the crankshaft that i did not have to drill and tap to next size. I was able to use a longer than stock bolt and still have more threads to catch than what the stock bolt has. The next problem i incountered was backed out intake bolt. I am 100% sure i did not miss the same one bolt 4 different times, actually 5 because i doubled checked it with a different torque wrench. The last problem i encountered was an intake gasket. Front. between intake and block.. I could not prove the other but this time i thought i could. I took pictures. The gasket is pulled practicually straight out. I is ripped longway down the gasket. It is a rubber gasket. I has tabs in back to keep it from sliding forward and tabs in front to keep it from sliding backward. Well the back half is still in. So there is only one answer to the question, what happened to the gasket? and that is , someone grabed hold of it and pulled it, and that is fact. Well guess what. I not there. I guess some day my brother in law will wake up and realize that he has been scammed. Yea, chester is a fraud and a con and i realized this after spending two days working with him. He comes off like he knows all there is to know about mechanics but he does not know his ass from a hole in the ground. What a fuck up. Last i herd my brother in law was saying how chester found a burnt speedo cable on the exhaust on the 58. chester blamed it on the shotty work done before him. I bet 20 to 1 he fucked it up when he dropped the motor. Well hope they both get what they got coming to them. My brother in law is a fool that i have lost a lot of respect for becuase he dont want to listen and admit that he has been con. Believe me, that is it. He has to be the one to find out he is being con ed, ccoming from some one elso would be more than he could handle. O well, he has a lazy piece of shit that will never produce no where near what any other decent mechanic would do considering. I promise, i gaurentee this man will never produce 8 hours of work in a week. i would be willing to wager 2 to 1 odds on it.