Off topic pickup, 1952 Ford F3 Marmon Herrington 4wd, but engine fits. Original engine was stuck, but got it moving, removal of heads revealed a crack from exhaust valve to cylinder. Rats!. Found a complete pickup for a good price with running engine. Popped that into the 4wd for a test spin before my planned restoration. Pulled it out today and removed heads. All 48 bolts came out intact, good sign. After cleaning up deck surface, no evidence of valve to cylinder cracks , cleaned a couple of pistons, appears to be stock bore. A bit of a ridge, however. Valve chamber was fairly clean as well. I had done a compression check for curiosity sake. 74-85 lbs. A but low, but it had sat since at least 2017 without being started. Anyhow, am happy with what I have seen so far. Going to rebuild as stock.
Thanks, not out of woods with it yet, but no cracks on top, that I could see, made my day. Can't crow (too loud) til I'm out of the woods.
25,000 miles on engine, but guides were a pain. Not too bad to drive down, but coming up, something else. Tried wrapping straight jaw vice grips with duct tap, gave guides a twist, and up they came. May not work with rusted or high mileage guides, but did the trick for me. Now to give it a bath in homerew caustic soda, to see any obvious cracks, then off to machine shop to see what I have.
The Jalopy Journal
