I took a gamble and picked up this fairly complete flathead/trans this weekend for a good price. The numbers (29-A) call it a '42 Merc 100 hp engine. It is locked up so I started to pull it apart and poop! I find this mess. Now I know cylinders can be sleeved and I haven't measured anything yet, but this looks bad. Is this thing a lost cause or is it too soon to tell? Sent from my iPhone using TJJ ****a!
Woah... is that the valve head rusted in half? I still wouldn't be too scared yet. Just the fact that it is a 99A block... even with pitted bores you may not need sleeves.
The first picture looked so good. Man was that thing on the ***anic!!! Keep tearing it apart...that doesn't cost anything but time. I think it's still workable. IMO
Seriously start digging around for posts containing "99A" authored by Bruce. The more I look the less scary it seems. Sure looks like new seats, and a proper relief job could clean away most of that mess. I'm going to bring over the KRW valve train ripper outers on loan from the Lancaster museum. In the meantime start looking for a big plastic drum full of baking soda and water and the battery charger.
Don't give up until you've eliminated most of the rust and corrosion. It's unlikely that you'll ever dissolve enough of that **** to allow the engine to turn over but you might get lucky. Remember: The pistons are expendable (The block will require reboring at the very least) so don't beat your self to death trying to get them to move up and down. Cut the tops out with a hole saw and collapse the upper part into the center. Then all you need to worry about is valves stuck in the guides but then you can (hopefully) pull the horseshoe clips and pop the whole ***embly (valve, guide & spring) out of the hole. Once you get it stripped you can look it over and determine if it' savable.
Ya gota get whats left of the valves out and see what you have to work with. It may be too far for a valve grind but not too far to weld up and machine. It may even be a candidate for some major port work like in rerouteing the ports all together. I haven't done that yet but some place there is an article that could be used to learn that old world performance trick. Could be also that you can find another donor and take the best of both to build yourself a good merc motor.
FYI for those talking about the crank. Unless there has been a swap somewhere along the way you're not going to find a four incher in '42. And just to prepare yourself, the KRW tools are tough... but this may be how we end up removing at least a few of the valves and guides. Flathead beatdown
anything is worth saving if you want to, after all it is your time, try the soap powder, sounds like it mite work, as far as the crank is concern'd and don't quote me, i think it is same stroke as ford, it's only a 100 hp, I think the 4" crank came out in 49, but I could be wrong. have fun
Looks Bad! I've seen worse though. Like said before, get it all torn down before you pronounce sentence.
That’s not uncommon at all. How many people bother to keep them out of the weather. If there’s bad pistons or burnt valves when I pull the heads I always feel better about the block right away ……. Tells me it was parked or pulled for that and may not be cracked.
Get a good twisted wire cup brush and clean off the block between the valves and pistons. Check for cracks there. Not a death sentence, but could be pricey to fix. Roll block upside down and check for cracks in the pan rails and main webs. If you find any there, it's pretty much over for the block, but save the internals, crank, rods, etc. RB
Be sure to inspect the sides of the block toward the oil pan. I had a block with decent decks which was rusted out in that area. Hope it will be usable. Good luck!
Yeah, I'll guessing the majority of the rusty bits can be removed with your favorite mix of penetrant (I've personally been wanting to try the 50/50 ATF and Acetone mix I've heard is great) and straight up violence. Then de-rust after to see how far gone it really is. FYI I used the biggest bolt cutters I could rent at Home Depot to snip the valves off inside of the valley. But those were pre-torch days so maybe fire is smarter?
Too early to call on damage. I ***ume bore is 3 3/16...the raised surface (actually lowered shoulders) atop block is typical of 1941--WWII but could be 221 or 239 from just that. The trans number is for a 221 1942 car but of course might be unrelated to engine.
The odd thing about the trans is that it is a top loader. It is also open drive. I would have expected a car of that year to be column shift? Maybe a wartime anomaly? Frankly, I was expecting more horrified viewers, so I am keeping my hopes up!
Top loader open drive is fine with the 1942 number...the trans was originally employed in a 1942 221 pickup truck. P***enger was closed, side shift of course.
I bought an 8CM from a junkyard years ago and found the same thing. It looked good from outside, but mice had moved in, filling the crankcase and lifter valley with stuffing from the seats. They must have peed on everything and rusted it up. It's just sitting in the back of the garage now. Eventually I'll try de-rusting it and at least try to save the crank. I managed to get the rod nuts off when I first tore it down. They had rusted undersize, and I hammered a metric socket on to get a grip.
Get after em' boys! Don't be bashful, after all the wire brushing, penetrating oil, magical rust neutralizers . . . you'll just have to be a bit brutal. I've found that once you get to the "all I care about is the block stage" - it usually goes a bit faster! Of course, that is about the time I get the 'flame wrench' out! I would spend some time with a big wire brush and a disk grinder on the areas between the valves and bores - just to see if you have any cracks that you can see and then like others mentioned, check all around the areas where the pan bolts. Because these motor don't have freeze plugs, a lot of them have fatal freeze cranks in the pan rail area. This is a kiss of death. Might be a good block . . . one never knows!
The Jalopy Journal
