'41 Flathead Not Starting

Fritz

Fritz

Senior Member
I am trying to revive my pickup which has been sitting, well-preserved, in an Ohio barn for about 20 years. It was restored prior to being stored, but has been rather neglected.

I have rebuilt the Ford 94 carb and the fuel pump. The gas lines are clear with a new gas tank (I can pull gas through the line with a vacuum pump). The motor cranks over, I am getting spark, but it will not start. The pump seems not to be pumping fuel (it's the later style with the glass bowl and not a drop gets deposited in there when the motor cranks), but even after I have put gas in the carb float bowl, and sprayed starter fluid down the throat, the engine isn't firing up.

Anybody have any ideas?
 
I suggest the valves are stuck ,take the plugs out put some oil in the cylinders and turn her over on the starter or tow her .
 
i believe Johnny is correct, do a compression check to really see it that is the problem, if it is, pull all the plugs and put a good amount of penetating oil in the cylinders and let set for a few days, turn the engine over and do it again, wait a few days , turn engine over to clear cylinders, replace plugs .prime the engine and see if it starts, if it does put 4 or 5 oz of marvel mystery oil in fuel tank , put a qt in crank case and run engine, if its the valves they should free up, a good penetrating oil is a home made one, 50/50 mix of acetone and auto trans fluid, just dont be in a hurry let the stuff work
 
Ok, over the past few weeks, I've squirted ATF/acetone down the plug holes three times. I've replaced the plugs, and am still not getting the engine to fire up. I can feel some compression at the end of the tail pipe. The gas in the carb float bowl that I put in has been sucked out by cranking the engine over, but even with spraying starter fluid and gas down the throat, I'm not getting anything to fire.

I would think if it has fuel, spark, and even a little compression, it should start?
 
You should pull the plugs and test the compression for each cylinder. That will give you a better idea of what is going on.

Another possibility besides stuck valves is that the plug wires are mis-wired. A good spark at the wrong time won't do the job.

Tom
 
you say you have a spark? how strong is the spark? does it jump a 1/2" gap-is it blue in color? remove the distributor if the spark is weak and clean the points with some fine sandpaper, make sure they are opening and closing---one set at a time, I would be willing to bet that the points have a layer of crud on them and you really can't get a good spark, also get some new plugs or at least clean and gap the old ones.
 
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