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lyonroad
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 10 Years Ago
Posts: 703,
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If you haven't already done so, pull the oil pan and see whats in the bottom. I was in the same boat as as you. I had a 55 -292 that was supposed to have been rebuilt. The top end was spotless, so I thought the rebuild had likely been done. When I pulled the pan (I had to go from a rear sump to to a front sump) I found a lot of sludge in the bottom of the pan. That got me suspicious so I pulled the heads. There was a significant ridge indicating that the latest rebuild if ever was many many miles ago. When I sent the block out for a rebore they had to go 60 over.
It does not pay to assume!
Mark
1956 Mercury M100
1955 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan
Delta, British Columbia
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Countrysquire
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 6 Years Ago
Posts: 45,
Visits: 256
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Mark,
That's exactly what I fear. Even if I have to go as far as boring it, stock cast pistons are cheap enough. The starter repair shop just called and told me that the starter is ready, so I could check compression again with looser valve lap, but I'm leaning toward getting the peace of mind from knowing exactly what I have. Plus, the starter had a nice coat of paint, but it looks like it hadn't been apart since it was new. That could be indicative of how the engine was done...
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charliemccraney
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Group: Moderators
Last Active: Yesterday
Posts: 6.1K,
Visits: 442.5K
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Countrysquire (3/11/2014)
- Vacuum around 6-8" hg at idle, compression 110-128 psi on cool engine, dry cylinders, and throttle closed.
- When turning the engine over by hand with the front cover off, you can hear the air escaping into the pan. Reaching TDC compression is easier on some cylinders than others.
If the throttle was closed, then that also contributes to the low compression pressure reading. The throttle should be wide open during that test. I bet if the throttle was open it would jump to around 150 or more, which is good. You should perform a leak down test before you dig in too deeply. If that turns out good, then I would not touch the rings or valves for now because everything else sounds pretty good.
Lawrenceville, GA
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Countrysquire
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 6 Years Ago
Posts: 45,
Visits: 256
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I guess that I should try to build a leakdown tester, it seems simple enough and I have most of the parts already. I hate to go spend $100 for a tool that tells me if I need to spend $100 for parts.
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Oldmics
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 5 Years Ago
Posts: 710,
Visits: 78.1K
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A bunch of the parts for a leak down tester can be obtained/utilized from certain compression gauge units.
Oldmics
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Countrysquire
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 6 Years Ago
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Thanks Oldmics, that's my plan. I believe I have everything I need but some quick setting epoxy, so I should be able to put one together this evening. The leakdown test will have to be done cold, but it ought to tell me something.
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Countrysquire
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 6 Years Ago
Posts: 45,
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OK, leak tester built and it appears to work, based on a lot of correlation with the compression test. All the cylinders but two had between 25 & 35% leakdown. One cylinder only had 6%(!), and one had 75%. That one might have a problem. I went back and checked it again and got the same reading. Moving the crank back and forth made no difference, nor did tapping the valves. I followed that with a couple squirts of oil and retested. The pressure came out about 5 psi, but you could hear the air blowing through the oil. I guess this tells me that I better go ahead and open it up while it's out of the car.
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NoShortcuts
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 2 Years Ago
Posts: 1.4K,
Visits: 179.6K
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Although it is said that it can be done, those on this Forum that say they have done it, say they would NOT do it again. Do what? Change a Ford y-block cam and lifters without the engine being upside down.
Pulling the engine on a ‘Bird or any other vehicle is time consuming and work.
Money and time do not grow on trees. However, having to do something twice is one of those things that really irritates me, especially if I knew ‘I-should-have’ done something that I didn’t.
Too many people who rebuild engines do not KNOW the ins-and-outs of the y-block Ford engine that went out of production in this country 50 years ago.
ALL manufacturers' engines and ALL engine series have nuances. With a rebuilt engine, IF you don’t know who rebuilt it, IF you don’t have documentation of the work done (repair shop bill), what have you got?
Consider your plans for the car. IF you’re going to keep it, since you’re going to pull the engine to change the cam and lifters, consider taking it ALL apart. Disassembling, cleaning, measuring, and reassembling the entire engine and its components like the oil pump, distributor, and the carb will give you the peace of mind of KNOWING what you’ve got and HOW it was done.
At an earlier time, I had the experience of disassembling a never fired Ford re-manufactured 312 from an authorized Ford re-builder. Everything checked out as being correct EXCEPT that USED concave-faced lifters were installed with a new camshaft, mixed length pushrods were installed with the rockerarm assemblies, and the rockerarm assemblies had mixed ratio re-bushed rockerarms. I wasn’t impressed with the mixed valve train components, but was shocked that an authorized Ford re-manufacturer would push an engine out the door with used, obviously concave, valve lifters mated to a new camshaft.
NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York
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Countrysquire
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 6 Years Ago
Posts: 45,
Visits: 256
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The engine was coming out either way because of the needs to freshen up the restoration, plus a significant oil leak at the back of the engine AND a leaking transmission. Like I said earlier, the last thing I want to do is do it twice. I would hate to pay a shop to do it, but this is all work I can do myself for not a lot of money. Well, do it myself with the help of the Y block community.
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Outlaw56
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 2 Years Ago
Posts: 435,
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com check
Darrell Howard Whitefish, MT Outlaw 56 Ford F-100's
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