"Angle Milling" heads

After having built many ohv engines I always run the eng for aprox 20 min to break in the cam. The only oil the cam and lifters get is splash off the rods. Always be sure the eng will start within a couple of turns . Cranking and cranking on a eng will only wear the lube off the cam and lifters.
This works for me.


Thanks Tubman.
 
When It comes to piston clearances, I'm only concerned with the circumference area of the piston. not the center. Due to the difference in dome radius in both pistons and heads, all your looking for is an area that will furnish the "Squish" just before the spark plug fires, thus burning more of the F/A . Most modern engines use aprox. 1/2 " of the outside diameter of the piston.
 
tubman said:
I do not agree with this statement for the reasons I stated. If I had infinite money and infinite time I might consider getting the block right, but that would require complete disassembly of a completed and painted short block; valve train, crank and pistons, everything. I am talking about .039" over a span of 20". I don't think this is enough to be consequential. I would be willing to bet that thousands of flatheads left the factory or rebuilding shops with this much of an error if not more, and ran fine for many thousands of miles. Then we get into the question of deck thickness. There is a good chance that this block has been decked before (albeit rather poorly). Given the notorious thinness of flathead blocks, I would rather take a chance on he .039" than making an already thin deck thinner. If I'm right I'm right. If I'm wrong, what could go wrong? With the extent of the cut I'm talking about here, I doubt anything serious; a leaking head gasket maybe? If anything goes wrong, it would be time to re-think this.
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If you cant afford to do it right the first time... How can you expect to afford to do it right the second time??
 
Apparently no one paid attention when I covered the subject of ANGLE MILLING in my book. I explain some procedures and discuss what to do about the stud holes and spot faces. I am particularly surprised at Ol'Ron for not remembering.
 
JWL if i send you a check can you actually give some solid advice about how to solve issues instead of promoting your book as answer to all questions...
We all know you wrote a book...so did Ol´Ron but he actually do share his knowledge here...
 
Karl Wescott said:
If you cant afford to do it right the first time... How can you expect to afford to do it right the second time??
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Please read the entire thread and make an effort to comprehend it completely before making comments like this. The head was angle-milled from back to front, not side to side. Because the deck of the block was angled, this was necessary to bring everything back into alinement. The bolt holes in the head ended up perpendicular to the crankshaft center line after this procedure. They were not when I started. I had a choice of decking the block or milling the head to get everything back in alinement. I chose to angle mill the head rather than the block for three reasons. The first is that flathead decks are notoriously thin and should not be decked any more than necessary. This one had already been decked (incorrectly) but it was perfectly flat, so I did not want to cut it anymore. Second, it's simply easier to mill a head than disassemble a short block and have it decked. Third, if something did go wrong, a head is cheaper and easier to replace than a completed short block.

In short, it was done right the first time so it won't have to be done a second time, as witnessed by the way the engine runs. Check out the video included earlier in the thread and you will see this.
 
JWL said:
Apparently no one paid attention when I covered the subject of ANGLE MILLING in my book. I explain some procedures and discuss what to do about the stud holes and spot faces. I am particularly surprised at Ol'Ron for not remembering.
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Thanks for the reminder, JWL. I was about to ask what procedure to use. I got your book several years ago, but totally forgot you covered angle milling. I imagine you get tired of being asked the same questions repeatedly when your book covers so much.
 
JWL's comments, while appreciated, are not germane to this discussion. I used it to correct a problem probably caused by a carelessly done previous decking. Remember, "end to end", not "side to side".

"Ol' Ron" wasn't "not remembering"; he had followed this thread carefully enough to realize what I was actually trying to accomplish. He knew that what I was doing would bring the bolt holes in the head back to their proper orientation and that they would need no further work.
 
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tubman said:
JWL's comments, while appreciated, are not germane to this discussion. I used it to correct a problem probably caused by a carelessly done previous decking. Remember, "end to end", not "side to side".

"Ol' Ron" wasn't "not remembering"; he had followed this thread carefully enough to realize what I was actually trying to accomplish. He knew that what I was doing would bring the bolt holes in the head back to their proper orientation and that they would need no further work.
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You're right tubman. How easily we get sidetracked! Even some of us old guys are falling victim to the microscopic attention spans so common today!
 
Thank you "40 Deluxe". This was a very successful process for me, and I thought that the procedure I went through might be helpful or at least of interest to others. This thread has been sitting here for over a year as what I thought to be an excellent example of the lengths we sometimes have to go to in order to get these old beasts to the best running condition they can be. I thought twice about jumping in, but I felt I had to, since the whole thrust of the thread was being subverted by a couple of guys who didn't take the time to read the complete thread and comprehend it.

I think we should drop it now.
 
we cover so many problem people have with these engines. Every six months or so we do it all over again. Allot of books have been written about this engine over the years and everything gets covered here on the barn, BUT! in six months we'll start over again. In my opinion I think Johns book is the best one written so far, wish I wrote it.
 
Lots of ways to skin a cat . . . and many opinions from the "skinners" to go along with them. You have an engine you're really happy with - that is what counts!
 
Sorry....sigh..... I read page one and didn't realize you had already milled the head to correct the deck being milled incorrectly. Hope this does work well for you in the long run.
 
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