Advice from the experts on 239

[52FordF3]

I am tearing down my 239 and inspecting. My understanding is it has not ran in at least 4 years. It actually looks great. Still have to pull the oil pan but I do not expect any big surprises. I can tell it has been rebuilt not too long ago. The pistons are 40 over and there is no ridge at all on the cylinder walls. So the questions is do I need to pull all the valves crank etc.? Or can I clean it up real good and go through the pre oil process and I should be good? I am afraid if I remove the valve assemblies that I will end having to replace them if they do not cooperate. My original intend was to completely disassemble the block and have it cleaned. Looking for the best course of action. Thx Jeff

 

[flatheadmurre]

If theres no rust on the valveseats from sitting with open valves i would put it back togetter and run it.

 

[G.M.]

If everything looks good I would check the valve clearance and if in the
.012 range lubricate with a spray of Marvel Mystery Oil. Put oil in and
with the plugs out and 12 volts to the starter spin the engine with a
mechanical oil pressure gauge installed. The pressure you see will be
what you will have at 40 to 50 MPH. If there is an oil pressure problem
it can be easily fixed at this point. This can be done with the engine
sitting on the floor. I have started a number of engines that sat 40
or 50 years and everyone turned out good. G.M.

 

[52FordF3]

woo hoo! You guys are making my day! I will give that a go G.M. Sounds like a great way to do a pre check. You should not even need to put the heads on for that check should I? Any tricks to cleaning the water passages?

 

[Bored&Stroked]

If you're trying to save money and a ton of time . . . why not try what GM says and see how she runs? I recently did this to a 59AB that had sat (indoors) since 1959. I did pull the oil pan (highly recommended - to get any crap, sludge or other stuff out of it) - checked the main bearings while I was at it. Then I put in a new 49-53 style oil pump while I was at it, new water pumps and a fuel pump. I also lubricated the cylinder bores a bit (can't hurt), put new gaskets on it and decided to give it a go.

I did exactly as GM said - cranked it over a bunch with the plugs out of it - saw good oil pressure. I also checked compression on all cylinders - was good enough (about 90 lbs on each). This engine smoked just a bit when you first started it, but overall - ran very well for two years while I was busy building a hot 42 Merc for it.

 

[Bluebell]

The other thing i would do is get some oil around the gudgeons.
I have seen a factory new (holden 6 cyl), long stored engine lock up in the gudgeons about 30 seconds after start up.