water pump hole question
 

i have a 327 chevy engine that i am cleaning up and i noticed something odd .. or anyways different than the other engines that i have seen. on the left hand side of the block where the water pump mounts there are the 2 bolt holes what appears to be a dead hole under them with what looks like some kind of stud in the hole . all the other (350) blocks i have seen, this hole is open and it feeds into the water pump. whats going on here ? is this okay/normal?

It's a bypass hole that somebody decided to block or restrict. Some block the bypass and just drill one small hole in the thermostat to act as the bypass.

What would someone have done this though. what is there to gain

Nothing to gain, but there was a theory many years ago that plugging this hole forced more coolant through the radiator thus achieving more cooling.

I mean like give me a break, a quarter inch hole is going to make a significant difference in engine temp? Sometimes these things just don't get thought thru they just get into the popular press and take off like a Malibu brush fire.

Bogie

Hole is normally blocked in racing applications that dont run a thermostat. A 3/8" diameter hole with 15psi of pressure across it will more alot of water, and at peak load cause some temperature differences from bank to bank. There is no need to block it for street use.