[Jesse Browning]

Perry; All of my valve guides were perfect, even though some of the valves were pitted. Out of all the cylinders, only one valve seat needed to be ground. I measured every part in the engine, and nothing showed any wear. The stems of the valves showed only a mark of the rocker roller in one position. The valves are free to rotate, but never had been run long enough to do so. The (1952) rebuild shop left a screw in the intake, and it got sucked into the supercharger. I could follow the marks as the screw travelled through the whole engine. It ended up in #8 cylinder where it bounced around for a while. It chipped the edges off the piston in several spots before being spit out. The rebuild shop also left a gob of grease and sand inside of the fuel pump housing. The rocker box interconnecting tube on #6 cylinder has an adapter that bolts to the left sump. The adapter was still packed with cosmoline. Finally, one push-rod socket and spring were missing. I didn't notice it untill reassembly (thanks go to Phil connor for getting one to me by next-day-air). I was wondering earlier why one of the push rods had wear marks on the parkerizing. It must have been banging around inside the housing. This engine was quite an adventure. I wish I had another one to do! Jesse.