Heads are installed Didn’t have a full set of the factory washers and the washers that I had bought with the new studs and nuts were not as thick as the originals so I purchased these and then cut the OD down to match used spray copper gasket also needed to space the spark plugs Never had luck drilling copper washers but I had sealing washers from a kit and put them in a collet together and then drilled them out Worked great they are.055” thick I also bought some of these took the fuel pumps that I had bought at the swap meet and installed new diaphragms that are supposed to be ethanol compatible The fuel pumps were brand new on the inside Hot humid summer weather has settled in so I may keep the engine in the climate controlled basement for a while until I am totally ready to get it running on the run stand May switch my efforts to exploring the’35 motor
Started some disassembly on the’35 I am determined to do this in a nondestructive fashion Took 3 hours to get the first head off only hour and a half for the second First look to be expected the aluminum heads have deep corrosion I am thinking for a running exhibit I can fill the corrosion holes with aluminum epoxy and mill flat If I want a road worthy engine I actually have a good set of flat top cast iron heads I had bought for the’34 before I switched to the dome pistons Determined that I had three stuck pistons and one stuck valve Worked on the valve first It was stuck open so was able to rotate the valve and work it loose Some how during working on it or maybe it was already I broke the valve spring Tried hitting the valve guide with one of those c shaped tools that go around the valve head to remove the valve guide but it appears to be super tight I think I can put in a valve spring the way it is I know I removed valve springs when I was disassembling the’34 as for the stuck pistons I just started hammering the tops of the pistons with a piece of oak and also hammering on a wrench on a grade 8 bolt that I had in the end of the crank also used a cylinder hone to clean up the walls After about 2 hours I have a free turning motor with all the valves going up and down Just as a side note I was getting a noise every 2nd revolution determined that because I am missing one valve spring you get backlash in the cam gear Then removed the oil pan At this point it needs a good cleaning but I have done a quick examination The camshaft looks excellent as do the lifters the core plugs in the pan rail look excellent the connecting rods have no witness marks no punch marks no number stamps nothing It’s like it’s a new motor except there is about 3 inches of sludge in the bottom of the pan The oil pump seems to be stuck in place but I did remove the suction screen and end plate the gears look excellent I wish these motors could talk cause now we get to the pistons The pistons don’t have any markings other than a faint ford script so okay you figure factory piston must be standard size The bore is measuring.010” oversize above the ring groove at the top of the bore and at the bottom of the bore and a big taper in between with clean wear pattern this motor sure looks like it has never been apart before but here is the real mystery it has the piston expanders Was this a reject motor that they put.010” over pistons with the spring expanders? My plans are to clean up the motor Remove 2 rods so I can measure the crank Look at one of the main bearings Remove one piston to measure and look at the rings Take notes for future reference and then put it back together with a new gasket set Also in cleaning out the old shop I found this I’m thinking I can mount my head fixture to this to get my valve pocket angles on the milling machine also doing some mockup on the’34 for run in stand
What a beautiful morning Just got back from a motorcycle ride it’s been over a year since I’ve had the bike out been neglecting some of my other toys Someday hope to have the speedster out on a Sunday morning Back to the’35 Used 4 cans of oven cleaner and the motor cleaned up good Got the valve spring installed Was able to get it in fairly easily This spring has more coils than the others but at this point a valve spring is a valve spring Noticed one bent valve and that may have been my doing when I was prying the head off I just used a brass punch and beat it down into the seat and then checked it with a.0015” feeler gauge looks like it was sealing Checked valve lash All between.013”-.015” Noticed when turning engine over that the lifters are even rotating excellent So the valve train looks good next week we will start working on the bottom end Found a couple of surprises so check in next week
Like to start off by saying thank you for the likes It lets me know that there is interest in what I am doing and I see some new names so welcome Start today’s lesson with video we left off starting to look at the bottom end Removed one piston The rings are all seized did find the factory rod stampings they’re on the side of the rod at this point I was thinking about how far I want to go Clean everything up and reinstall New rings Would require removing all 8 pistons Then with closer inspection noticed this piston measures as standard size so decision is made new standard pistons and rings Removed piston from rod No c-clips so just gently pressed wrist pin out and discovered what I am guessing is original factory pins held in by a ring in the middle the broken piston was the only one that was missing the expander was wondering where it went Went out in the woods where I had scrapped out the gunk from the bottom of the pan and discovered this just a little bit distorted Maybe the cause of the engine being parked? Like I said if this engine could talk Removed crank from block eveything measures as standard Conclusion Untouched original 1935 motor Low miles And from my research the major problem with these early motors was the piston and cylinder bores got in some new rod bearings so next what I will do is hone the cylinder bores do a cleaning Spray some paint on the block Then do a swap with the’34 Bring the’34 on the run stand out of the basement to the shop then take the’35 to the engine assembly room (the basement) Put the crank shaft in the lathe for a quick polish Then reassemble with new pistons rings and con rod bearings a look at the crankcase ventilation system Air comes in at the back through the oil filler Then in front of the block there is a tube with the passage way coming out the bottom of the block and then the pan has a separate chamber that is open to allow air to escape other thoughts and observations the valves look just outstanding the intake runners have grinding marks like they were matched to the gasket the oil pump idler gear bearing is perfect the head studs go in to the water jackets where the’34 are blind holes I’m glad I didn’t have this motor laying around when I was assembling the’34 cause I would have stolen alot of parts Till next time
When I rebuilt my 1928 Model A engine, I discovered that same circlip arrangement in the rods. I had trouble re-assembling them. The squared end of the wrist pen would butt up against the circlip and stop, and I didn't want to force it, so I turned a little round-nosed bullet out of bar stock. One end was just a few thousandths smaller than the wrist pin, and it tapered slightly to smooth round shoulder. The whole thing wasn't but an inch or so long. I just pushed it through ahead of the pin and it expanded those clips nicely. Hearing them pop into the grooves is quite satisfying. I really like your thread, and your knowledge and work habits make me feel inadequate. Haha.
Some amazing tech here. Please keep the updates and detailed photos coming. You are helping alot of people.
Thanks for the heads up I hope to reuse the pins with the new pistons so that may save me some frustration on reassembly
As often happens when you are buying old parts off of the internet and really no ones fault, the pistons that I got in can’t all be used The problem that has come up is that standard size pistons are hard to find I had found 7 pistons that were hand labeled as standard but were not stamped on the piston top, turned out they were .025” oversized I’ll just add these to my inventory of parts that haven’t worked out I’ll be able to have my own booth at a swap meet someday Had also gotten one piston by itself and that one is good so we are back to just replacing the broken piston and reusing the rest Looking at the rings these have a one piece top ring three piece second ring and four piece oil ring which is actually the same as the old rings Got out one of my old books Measured top compression ring at.006” actually alot better than I expected This got me thinking about when I was in my early twenties and my mentor at the time what I had seen him do and that was to recut the ring groove and install a spacer just like the ones that had come out of the old piston would have 2 problems with doing this 1 the old spacers are worn to narrow so there would not be enough support for the compression ring 2 my parting tool is 1/8” so would have to modify it for smaller size (.118” new ring.094”+.024” spacer) The old book says to recut the ring groove to the next fractional size In this case going from 3/32” to 1/8” which would be easy if I had 1/8” rings But we will learn later that all of this is irrelevant Also have to keep in mind the mission and not suffer from mission creep I will next have to clean each piston and check for any other damage In the event that I do need another piston I still have the.030” over flat top pistons that came out of the’34 I do know that pistons are not machined round because of expansion but I feel I could machine a.030”over piston down to fit inside one of these worn cylinder bores (got to keep in mind the mission unless I can find another standard size) Now to what makes most of the above irrelevant Although when disassembled the wrist pin was centered obviously sometime it was not (original assembly?) So you think that is why the broken piston Wrong different hole Although they share a crank journal (#4 and #8 cylinders) So this new development really doesn’t change anything It would require a overbore regardless for a proper rebuild just maybe now going with.050” over bore or a sleeve So again keeping the mission statement in mind just going to put a piston back in the hole Now let’s start talking about changes from’34 to’35 If you go way way back to the beginning when I was putting in the motor mounts in the A chassis I talked about the motor mounts sitting lower ‘35 on left 1 5/8” difference between’34 and’35 One of the’35 mounts needed repair but I was able to find a reasonable price pair of’34 mounts so now both motors will be the same
The Jalopy Journal
