Draining Block to Prevent Freezing

Question: if I have drained the rad .....plus let the block drain dry out of the drain hole on the side of the block, am I safe from freezing and splitting the block??

Should be. The only problem with that is you have steel and cast exposed to air so things can rust. A lot of people did it for years before anti-freze was readily available.

Anti freeze is the best way to store it, cheap insurance.

Drain it hot  or warm, watch getting burned.  Did it for years on WD,s and Farmall H's.

 I try to keep anti-freeze in them.  Get in a rush and forget one time and freezes  or overheats , 50/50 is a good mix. Test ever year around now, right before the real cold comes. We try to use old filtered anti-freeze  mixed with new, anything that is too dirty or bad we add to the Cal-water for the tires, and replace with cleaner mix.

 Just took the head of a Wd that was never off, looked ok for 60 years  old. Boy they made a good engine. Dress it and checked for troubles a bolted on one that had a cracked head.  Water past the weather head, 2 & 3 cylinders rusted on the tractor it came off of.

The other thing... sometimes there's enough sediment build-up down near the bottom of the block that it'll trap a little moisture.  oftentimes, the moisture will have enough 'move room' so that it won't put stress on the castings, but not guaranteed that it won't break something internally... so draining is a good precaution, but better to drain it, then fill it with anti-freeze mix.

I have alot of projects at my house...one tractor I drain the water out of....rad leaks bad....I dont have the spare money to buy a new 400 buck rad when I need to spend money on things that are way more important. Just gotta do what ya gotta do.