after getting my 46 up and running after 38yrs, it runs good, i have one cyl, that is not hitting, after cking the compression,on all 8 they are at 105 psi, but the one that isnt hitting is at 0 ,i can see the valves opening and closing, i have also tried to put some oil into the cyl to see if would get some compression, but nothing, any ideas? this thing would run sweet if that one would hit...
You'll have to pull the head and have a look. Could be something with the seat, a burned valve,a shot piston, or a broken ring(s), any of which would be no suprise in an old flathead Flathead
was thinking that also, iam temped to drive it and see what happens, but i dont want to mess it up any more, if it is something bad...
Pull the intake manifold first. You don't even need to drain the radiator and you can see if the valves are stuck open on that cylinder. Even if they're not, you get a good look at the insides, if it's all gunked up, you know what you need to do! Stuff gets stuck under the valves pretty regularly, especially carbon, but I'd lean towards varnish on the valve stem holding one or more open. Which cylinder is it?
There are likely kludges to fixit depression style without serious teardown, worth a try if engine is basically good otherwise. No increase in compression with oil in there means rings good, valve(s) bad, easiest combo to fix. Pull one head and manifold...pull the two valves. Seats will almost certainly be good or easily returnable to good--they are nearly bulletproof hardened inserts. Clean seats and seat areas of valves to assess the situation. If seats are pitted, unlikely on a 59A, they will need a quick buzz with an actual seat grinder, but if not all is cheapy "Okie valve job" time...if valves are pitted and not just cruddy on their seats, first takem to a garage for grind--when mechanic throws you out because he has no idea how to put mushroom stems into his machine--blasted punk whippersnapper--order two valves and get to work. New valve, spot of clover grinding compound, rubber cup valve twiddler...spin it a few times til you have matching polished/ground areas on valve and seat, clean grit out carefully, and trial assemble...if clearance is decently close to spec you're done, if not we can cover options here...done for $50. This id NOT the equivalent of a modern valve job of course, but I think the plan here is to get a basically good engine back to all eight without getting into a costly overhaul. I've done complete flathead valve jobs this way back when young, poor, and iggerant, with plenty of improvement in the motor...and this with some minor-league tools added is how most pro valve jobs were done at least up into the thirties... Bruce
I have a '47 59AB block that had the same problem. The wrist pin keepers failed and the wristpin wore a deep groove in the block. Engine still ran pretty good too. Pistons and the rest of the cylinders all look good, so I'm debating on boring the whole block for new pistons or sleeving the one cyl and reusing the standard pistons. I'm cheap!
There have been some good advise tips on the engine ailment but before you yank that all apart, do a leak down test on that cylinder. A stuck valve will have the same no compression result and may be freed up with a dowel and some marvel mystery oil. Since you didnt gain any compression with the basic oil test it is potentially a leaky valve. A leak down test will isolate the valve. If the escaping air noise come from the exhaust pipe its the exhaust valve, if the noise come from the carb its the intake valve. You should be able to just see the valves thru the spark plug hole and in some cases an engine that has been setting for a period of time develops just a little rust rash on the stem and does not allow it to close all the way so rotate the engine over with all the plugs out and see if you can see if both valves bottom out or one remains open. This also can be noted when the engine is running as a stuck valve is usually is accompanied by a ticking sound of a lifter with excessive clearence. An yes if the escape air noise come from the crankcase vent there are some other issues. Since it doesnt smoke when running it is pretty sure that the rings arent bad. And as others have suggested, if this doesn't help, more work is involved.
thanks for all the inputs, what i did was put some mmo in that cyl,then put a rag over it, and turned it over a few times, then reinstalled the plug and started it,ran the rest of the oil through the carb when it was running... it help the eng as a whole, but no improvment to #6,will try the leak down test tonight....
We can grind the valves for you. easy to take out and check. we have the correct tools to do flathead valves. send them we will return like new. The cost will not be very much. They have to be gaped after ground, most of the time you take it off the stem. but some time the face. you will have to gap.
well after leak test i could here air coming out of the exhaust pipe. looked through the spark plug hole. and it looks like boyh valves where down when i did the test....
One last before the job starts. Did you do the leak test at TDC as anything after that will read a leaky exhaust valve. You may have to put the engine in gear and put the emergency brake on, to keep the engine from spinning under air pressure, if you try to do this yourself. If you did this and it was leaking, you already know what is next.
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