Good morning. I just joined the forum because I have a 1930 Model A motor in a rail bus that we are rebuilding in the chassis. Now while I have done many Ford and AMC motors, the flathead four is new to me.
We tried to turn the motor over with a hand crank but it was locked up tight. So we got the head of last week and found that the cylinders were in pretty good shape except for the one whose exhaust valve was open to the atmosphere, but even that one wasn't too bad. We soaked them with penetrating oil but still no movement so we pulled the pan and the side plate that covers the valve springs (I am sure there is a proper name for that plate but I do not know it). We also pulled the inspection cover for the cam gear, which is in good shape. While I am working on this vehicle, I am not the owner and he has some ideas of his own included using a piece of 2x3 to pound the #1 piston down to see if we could get some movement. Now while that did work, and we can move the pitons about an inch, except for #1 which just sits there, they do not turn freely enough so we drained the oil, yes it had oil in it, and dropped the pan. The #1 piston has cracked at the bottom separating the top from the rod, shocked huh. But the cam is really pitted so it will need to be replaced.
So as the process moves forward, I will asking for help from you flathead guys on how to rebuild this engine in the chassis.
Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Later!
Mr. Ed
We tried to turn the motor over with a hand crank but it was locked up tight. So we got the head of last week and found that the cylinders were in pretty good shape except for the one whose exhaust valve was open to the atmosphere, but even that one wasn't too bad. We soaked them with penetrating oil but still no movement so we pulled the pan and the side plate that covers the valve springs (I am sure there is a proper name for that plate but I do not know it). We also pulled the inspection cover for the cam gear, which is in good shape. While I am working on this vehicle, I am not the owner and he has some ideas of his own included using a piece of 2x3 to pound the #1 piston down to see if we could get some movement. Now while that did work, and we can move the pitons about an inch, except for #1 which just sits there, they do not turn freely enough so we drained the oil, yes it had oil in it, and dropped the pan. The #1 piston has cracked at the bottom separating the top from the rod, shocked huh. But the cam is really pitted so it will need to be replaced.
So as the process moves forward, I will asking for help from you flathead guys on how to rebuild this engine in the chassis.
Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Later!
Mr. Ed
