Especially, the dis***embly which some have difficulty with. I ran across a few old threads and also a few online videos of the process, in which some leave me thinking I should p*** on my methods. This may help simplify the process for those interested. Mostly, only basic hand tools are needed and a few easily home built tools. To save time I used to just tear them down on a bench but now use an engine stand in my old age. Lets fast forward to after the pistons and crank removal as that is just a basic, across the board operation. Use an appropriate pry bar of adequate length and girth to compress the valve springs. Several are available to purchase for this purpose or fashion your own from a crow bar, etc. Compress the springs and raise the valves placing a 1"x3/8" piece of hardwood under the valves to hold them up. Rotate the engine upside down allowing the lifters to drop, clearing the way for easy camshaft removal. Flip the engine again. The lifters can now be removed out the bottom of the lifter bores. Remove the hardwood wedges. The next step (if working alone) requires a bit of simultaneous use of both arms. The pry bar needs to be placed on the bottom edge of the valve spring retainer, compressing the spring, without impeding the release of the keepers when they drop out. At the same time a few light taps with a plastic hammer on the raised valves will help shake the keepers loose. Do all 16. Gather up the keepers, valve spring retainers and rotators if used. The springs will push through the lifter bores and out the bottom. There is no need to twist, cut and forcefully remove the springs. The valves can now be lifted out, leaving only the valve guide bushings and their retainers to remove. To do this I use a 7" length of copper round stock 7/8" in diameter and a hammer. Using just the required amount of force with the hammer, the valve guide bushings will lower enough to remove the retainer. Do all 16 and flip the block and using the same copper and hammer pound the valve guides out, again using the required amount of force needed to accomplish the task. The only other tools needed would be a cam bearing remove/install tool and a puller for removal of the cam driven oil pump gear which is a press fit. I'll put a pic up of mine. I'm no expert but I know what works for me. A very quick method once you get the method perfected compressing the springs and popping the keepers out. No grief, damage or injuries to report. Please feel free to share anything that will help those attempting to save and re-use these blocks. The gear puller fixture bolts (5/16-18 )are just wrist tight to hold it in position and the puller bolt is cinched with a nut on the bolt (3/8-16) and a second to pull out the gear pin. Made from a piece of s**** 1" square tubing in about an hour.
Good show. You covered the bases pretty well. I have a 59 AB waiting on my lazy ***. One day I hope to do the deed of a refresh on it I'll save this for reference. Thank You, A 2 B
Good writeup, thanks. It's pretty simple......until you introduce rust/ mouse nests etc to the equation. Then things can get challenging. I have a nice crack free 8ba block with the cam, lifters and valves all welded in place by rust. Someday I'll tackle that one.....
Thanks guys. Good luck with yours! Agreed that varying degrees of rust can make the process more daunting. I spread an old plastic tarp under the engine stand and liberally spray a 50/50 mixture of ATF and acetone on everything and allow it to set, then repeat. This 50/50 mixture is the most effective penetrant I know of. At the molecular level, the acetone will penetrate deeper and act as a carrier for the ATF. The acetone will evaporate quickly , making repeat applications necessary on some badly rusted areas. Never failed me yet. Very seldom is heat needed. That said, I would much rather tear down a grunge caked engine than one internally rusted.
Great idea on propping the valves and flipping to remove the cam first. Might even make the job “easy”.
Propping the valves open is an old trick enabling one to remove or change camshafts without having to remove the valve ***emblies. With a complete engine dis***embly, once the cam is out of the way and the lifters drop out the bottom, the springs will as well after the keepers are released. It really is a predictable, consistent outcome without the hard work. A considerable time savings will be realized as well without any damage to components which may be re-used.
Give us some tips for the rusty ones. How to remove pistons from rusty cylinders without cracking anything. Anything to dissolve the aluminum?
Maybe someone will have more suggestions but if the cylinders are badly rusted or pitted, a re-bore may be inevitable and new pistons are needed. Your primary goal should be saving the block in any case. Not every component will be able to be saved. We can only dissect, inspect and save what is still usable.
Yes that’s what I mean. Just looking for tips to loosen pistons and rings rusted to cylinder walls. Don’t want to be going hog wild with an eight pound hammer and crack the cylinder walls. Not even considering saving old pistons. Maybe even rods might need to be sacrificed. Other than acetone and ATF, any other special sauce you might soak the really rusty stuff with?
If you insist on blocking the valve up, Use 3 wooden wedges to hold it up. One wedge under the valve head can warp or bend the valve. Please do not hit the valve head with anything. These things warp and/or bend just by looking at them, rendering them useless. The valves and guides are designed to come out as an ***embly, valve, guide, spring and retainers all in a group, if you're lucky. To do this insert your crows foot bar into the groove at the bottom of the guide and pry it down enough to remove the horse shoe clip. Make yourself a clip removal puller using a stiff piece of wire with a little hook on one end to fit in the hole in the tab on the clip. With the clip removed the whole ***embly can be removed as a unit by putting your bar under the bottom of the unit and prying up. Don't let anyone stand in front of the valve. If it will pry up and come out, it can pop out of there like a rifle shot and fly off at high speed causing injury. Now, for the problems of age, poor storage and just plain meanness, these guides can rust tight in their bores, making them very hard to get out. If you can't get them out as designed, you will need to drive the guide down to break it loose. You can do it without removing the valve if you carefully insert a punch down under the valve head and drive it down as far as you can. Then squirt some penetrant in on top of it and try pushing it back up with your bar. Do this with great care so you don't let the punch hit the valve. There is a little tool available that's nothing more than a bent rod to fit around the valve head and sit on top of the guide. I've heard a lot of bad reviews on these. The real easy way to remove the unit is with a valve guide removal tool. Hard to come by now. It looks like an extra heavy "C" clamp that with a cupped end on one side and a crows foot on the other. With the forked end under the valve spring and the cupped end over the valve head, you just screw the thing down until it moves. Perhaps you can find someone that has the removal tool. Hard to explain long distance but it's only as hard as you want to make it. Good luck.
Glenn, thanks for the heads up on the delicate nature of the valves. I've had an idea for a while now. I figure that a set of better supporting wedges could be easily made with a piece of 3/8" hardwood and a couple of hole saws to create horseshoe shaped ones. That way it will be easier to compress the spring and insert the wedge without trying to position 3 pieces under each valve. I will heed your advise and not tap the valve heads to remove the keepers. Not really necessary. It was just quicker. I have removed the valves as an ***embly using the conventional methods but find this much easier and faster. After 75 years and varying stages of corrosion they can be difficult. I have a homemade version of the valve guide removal tool. It does work but is unwieldy and a slow process. The proper tools do go a long way to ease the process.
When we did this for the first time, it took a while to get the hang of using the crows foot to compress the valve sufficiently to remove (and later replace) the keeper. A big factor was using a crows foot with an offset, which really improved the leverage. (We tried a straight one at first and it was a real *****.)
I have heard, but never seen this first hand. It is said that you can dig a hole in your yard, line it with a plastic tarp and fill it with a mixture of vinegar and tomato ketchup and let your block set in it for I can't remember how long. Supposedly it will remove rust quite effectively. Would likely give me a hankering for french fries. But it is the very definition of special sauce. LOL
Speaking of french fries, I have heard that guys will load up the valley of the engine with charcoal, set it on fire, and cover it with a piece of sheet metal. That way, you can have a whole meal.
I'm always amazed that in the 40's and 50's you could get an in at 8 out at 5 engine fresh up on a flathead in a lot of shops that included the valves being ground and the rings and bearings being replaced and now a simple valve job seems to be considered something that a spe******t has to do. Outside of a few special tools they are about as simple an engine as you can find.
^^ this^^ Ahh the good Ole days when machine shops were everywhere and actually had people with bunches of knowledge and experience. Where boring, honing, etc were everyday tasks and not something "special"... Of course I also remember standing at the big overhead door of our once Pepsi bottling plant and watching the bottles being cleaned and refilled and for a Nickle you could have one handed to you straight off of the line... ...
Alchemy - if you want to dissolve the pistons, just fill the cylinder with a strong solution of Lye (Caustic Soda) and water. Dump it in and stand back. You may get a violent reaction, and trust me, you do not want to get this stuff on you. Severe burns await if you're not careful. Let it soak overnight. If it wants more, dump in a fresh solution. Caustic Soda (Lye) will dissolve aluminum. Use cold water to make your solution and add the lye to the water, slowly. Never, ever use hot water! Wear protective gear! Best to mix in a plastic bucket, too. When it stops fizzing and bubbling it's saturated and worn out. Lye and aluminum flakes = Draino brand drain cleaner. Oh, and it gets very hot while working.
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