Trying to start a freed flathead

fix the brakes

 

boy flat, I like your 49.....there are alot of opinions here for you...mine would be shave the rear door handles and enjoy it stock once it runs!!!

 

I don't blame you..who would? You offered knowledgeable, sincere advise, to help out a fellow HAMBER. Keep the faith, one member doesn't speak for us all. Thanks, for being here.

 

first time i saw this was in about '63. my dad and an uncle used a piece of fence post and a sledg hamer on the pistons of a stuck flat head, and crank on it with a long bar, it broke loose. my uncle put it in a '27 t roadster!!
I've started engines after soaking in oil for a long time. they come loose with the starter, and a crow bar.
I've read alot of post on here about nay sayers, when a guy said "it ran when i shut it off" well, that should mean oil it up, clean it up......it should run because the rods arn't wrapped around the crank!!!!

 

I've had flatties that ran good without enough compression to blow your thumb off the plug hole. A trick for starting a long dead engine is to drain the rad and fill it with the hottest water you can get to it. A hose from the water heater works great. If you are working in a heated shop its worth a try. The heat might even soften some of the goop on the rings. If there are any block heaters in the engine, plug them in too.

 

I am a diesel mechanic, and I seldom use the stuff. If used in abundance, it can load the cylinders, drying them sooo bad, that it will seize the engine up!! Alot of "back-yarders" will say it will do no such thing, but I've seen this happen...more than once! You can use pretty much any spray lubricant. Strating fluid, a.k.a. "Ether" would NOT be what I would use in this application.

 

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I got similar problems. Got a v12 '48 flathead (Lincoln). New coil, points, dizzy professionally setup. Good gas to carb thru pump; good accel. pump spray. Spark at all 12. Compression is really low (~30# in all) but valves all move and more than p*** "thumb test" in bores. Spins like a top w/ 6V. But cannot get even a cough from it. New oil, carb rebuilt, rad flushed, battery, plugs look good. I'm thinking some reason no gas to bores.

Also: Tried adding 12V just to starter, but will not turn over; just spark and heat ground to batt wire.

 

You guys shouldn't feel too bad, I would have started it already just to see if it would.. I guess that makes me Very stupid..

 

1 post, no intro, hijacked thread, I'M GETTING THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY FOR THIS ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Bingo, just don't use too much. I can't think of a diesel tractor (no glow plugs) at least through the 80s that didn't use ether. In fact, some manufacturers had a fitting to attach a can of ether and a ****on of some sort on the dash, with instructions on how to start a cold engine. Seldom could you go to a farm/ranch in my home state of ND, stand by a tractor and not smell ether before the starter started turning. Many people used it on a cold balky gas engine as well. By some people's opinions, ***mins, John Deere, IHC, etc. hired a bunch of stupid people to design their engines/ tractors.

 

I have 24 volted many engines that wouldnt start after sitting for decades. I usually spray WD40 in the carb when cranking. Also i mix 1/2 pint of 2cycle oil to a gallon of gas and hook a fuel line directly to the carb. nothing wrong with firing up the engine before a rebild. You can check for bubbles in the radiator and see if the oil pressure goes away after the engine warms up. I dont like either starting fluid it dries out the cyl walls and can cause damage. A few years ago we bought a 48 dodge 2 ton thathas 6 inch trees growing up through the frame. It wasnt stuck and stilll had anti freeze in the radiator. We installed a 12v battery resistor and coil. filed the points and ren a hose from the fuelpump to a 5 gallon can of gas with the twocycle oil mix. My son sprayd wd 40 in the carb while i cranked on it. It fired and missed and backfired and blew the rotten exhaust off then it leveled out. I drove it fron Black Rock Ark to our place by the back roads . No brakes just the emergency brake. some folks have a term for doing this they call it( Waking up Zombies) Oldwolf

 

Try putting a bit of oil in each cylinder to "wet" the rings and bores. This will bring the compression up; hopefully long enough to get some fire in a cylinder or two. I use this on a few of my one lungers at the start of the season.

 

Thank you Algoma. I've dropped about 2 tables****s down each bore, but let it sit. You think it's just that my compression is too low to get anything firing?

 

It's how old? How many people have thrashed it? It's set for how long? Give the old engine a break. Overhaul it. Lippy

 

I'll add my 2 cents here...I have fired up a lot of old engines that have sat for a long time or were stuck and I freed up. Tractors and cars mostly... in fact I'm dealing with my first flathead that is in that situation right now. The deal is, you never know. If it knocks like hell, you know why it was sitting in a barn or field all those years. I dont think your going to **** it up any worse by starting it, shoot, the person who parked it probably diddled with it a long time before it was parked. To the guys that say rebuild it, if it runs ****ty enough it'll come to that anyway, and I don't see any reason to go down that road right off the bat. Pre-lube it, fire it up and see what you got, IMHO

 

One tip I failed to mention. We always examine the spark plugs when we take them out. If they are oil fouled you can ***ume that the rings or valve guides are p***ing oil. We have a M farmall that was stuck and had a spark plug missing. The dirt daubers (Mud Wasps) had packed that cyl full. I broke the nest up with a screwdriver and blew it out with air.soaked the cyls with atf and diesel mix for a few weeks. Took off the starter and wiggled it back and forth with a pry bar on the ring gear. After I got it free we pulled the tractor in gear. with the spark plugs removed around the lot a few times Put a battery on it and it ran perfect No smoke or knock . Its a LP burner we didnt even have to clean the fuel system . We have used the M for several years. You just never know for shure. Randall

 

sounds like you checked your engine out enough to start it without hurting it, as for starting fluid i'd just put a little gas in a squart bottle, i keep one around here all the time, what made your engine stick?

if the rings are stuck and you run the engine for long that way its a very good chance you will ruin the pistons and score the walls, but if you pull the pistons now you may, just a chance, you can save them and be able to give the walls a hone, some new rings and run the old girl for many years, i say this would be the best way to save some money.

 

well that isnt fair to expect that a model A or T for that fact would start up after sitting that long. I know for a fact that they are like ****roaches and you just can't kill them. My '24 Model T after sitting for 13 years I just went and hit the switch and BANG it fired right up. Like ****roaches...