Rebuild flathead without removing from Car?

So my wife, SamIyam and I took the little AV8 for a spin around the block, ran into Johnny Law, (he just waved as we drove by) and figured out that there is way too much smoke coming out the breather tube. (Video to Come later in the week.)

Next steps are to run some diesel through it, replacing the oil, and see if the rings can seat themselves. If that doesn't offer a quick fix, I think I'm going to pull the heads, intake, and try and replace the rings, and valve guides/seals, and put it back together.

Anyone ever done this while a motor is in the car? Any drawbacks, thoughts, suggestions? Thanks. Matt

 

sure you can do it,but its a pain in the ass.about three quarters of the way through you'll think "why didnt i just pull the damn motor out"
but if you have any substantial bore wear you'll have to pull it anyway.
Pull the heads first, get a bore gauge and check the wear.

 

I'd just pull the motor. You can go ahead and clean it up good and go through it better out of the car.

 

Try some of this stuff:http://auto-rx.com/

Cleans the piston ring pack like nothing else can, frees them up so they can seal better.

Worth a try.

It's not a miracle 'fix-all', but it gets results for most of the folks who use it.

If the engine is truly 'sick' it won't do anything but make the engine cleaner inside. But if the rings just need to be freed-up this stuff will make a difference. Marvel Mystery Oil, kerosene or diesel just can't do what this stuff does.

I don't sell this stuff or have any stake in it, but I use it in both my old and newer cars.

You might just be able to avoid tearing your engine down.

 

Don't run 100% diesel or kerosene in any engine ,very hard on the lower end. 1 to 2 quarts MAX. Personal fav is Marvel MO or a qt of ATF. Flatheads can make a amazing amount of blowby from bad guides also. Never did a FH that I did not relace the guides.

 

Yea, I figured I'd do a leak down test on it before I got too deep. Guides would be a ton easier than rings.

 

You don't want to do it in the car , well .... I mean the engine . Rent a hoist you'll be WAY happier .

 

I own a hoist...it's just a pain to pull the radiator, headlights, etc. Believe me, doing it in the car is way easier, for me at least.

 

Well, If it's "way easier" go ahead and get at it. I myself being an old fart and having done it all at least once, prefer not to bend over a lot. Not to mention crawling around under a car. Every time I put a pan on from the ground up it leaked. If your not going to do a complete overhaul and just put rings and bearings in it, at least use cast rings and they will seat if the cylinders are oval.

 

Is this the first road trip after being run in the yard for awhile?

Frank

 

I know dad did it on an A in '61. Way before my time but at 14 years old it was his first engine overhaul. He accomplished it with a hand full of borrowed tools a kit from Warshauski and a manual from the library. He used to love to tell that story. Here's to great Dad's, gone but never forgotten!

Good luck and I for one would love to see pics as you go.

 

Yea, it smokes like a freight train out of the breather when you give it some gas...lots of smoke coming out of the lifter valley: rings or guides, probably easiest to replace both.

 

Put a PCV on it to suck that smoke back in & forget about it!

 

Wait a second, you've got an AV8 and it's such a pain in the ass to pull the motor that you'd rather lie under it with your arms over your head long enough to unbolt oil pan, unbolt the mains, unbolt the rods, pull the pistons, replace a set of rings, and reinstall and retorque everything all on your back?!??! I'd second the call to pull the motor before doing something that involved. Then again, I pulled the motor/trans from my Olds just to replace the torus seal. I have a very low tolerance for working on shit while lying on my back. At least the garage floor's not cold this time of year, though...

 

It's got one.

 

If you feel like doing a ring job with the block in the car head on. Hell before cars got too damned hard to work on it was done all the time and still is done on older cars. (in production shops) Yes you have to bend over a lot but putting the car up on stands or ramps helps that a lot. Yes you will lay on your back (hopefully on a good creeper) and get some oil in your face but it will wash. The pan can be a pain to put back and keep from leaking but it isn't all that bad if if you make sure everything is clean and the gaskets are in place just right.

I would follow the suggestion of going with cast rings as the coated rings tend to not seal well in engines that have a bit of wear on them.

 

Years ago machine shops had equipment to bore cylinders and do valve jobs on motors still in the cars but the equipment has probably been thrown away and if they still had them all the people who know how to use it are dead. Jeff

 

If it's smoking that bad I'd suspect rings more than valve stem seals. I'd start there. Pull the heads and oil pan and have at it. No need to mess with the intake or valve train yet. I replaced the rings in one bad cylinder of a Chevy still in a 36 Ford. It was more work than a flatty but no big deal. It's not like you are doing work that would need to be repeated if the seals are bad also. JMO