Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra
Nah, none of use will believe it isn't a photoshopped photo anyway - show us the video of it running under it's own power! 
H. |
Oh, ye of little faith! In due course I'll take some video of it driving around the back yard, but first I need to fix the accelerator pedal, which like everything else on this truck is rusted solid!
As Keith mentions, this poor old flathead took a lot of coaxing back into life. Having finally managed to unseize it and get the crankshaft turning freely, I was confronted with 16 valves stuck wide open, and even after I finally managed to free them all up (which must be accomplished by repeatedly cranking the motor by hand and tapping the valve closed with a punch inserted through the plug hole), the only way I could raise sufficient compression to fire was by removing the plugs and squirting oil into the pots. However, the effect only lasts a few revolutions before the oil is dissipated, and since the motor kept dying on me, I had to repeat the procedure many times. Eventually though it chugged into life and I was able to run it for about 10 minutes, after which it recovered sufficient compression to start normally. That is, without having to remove the plugs every time! Presumably the rings had been rusted solid in their grooves, and perhaps the rusty valves needed to re-seat themselves on their rusty seats! In any case it's now running around 75-85 psi in all pots, which may improve further after driving under load.
All in all a worthwhile exercise - there is no more satisfying sound than the roar of a long dead flathead, and it's always great to cheat the scrappy. This is one flathead that won't be going into a Beijing skyscraper or a Great Wall SUV!