MisterB
Senior Member
Offline
Hi Folks-
Been on hiatus from the shop for a few week cleaning up the mess from the ice storm of 2017.
Finally spent a day on the car and made some progress. Couldn't face another day of welding and grinding so I went for some good old greasy-fingernail mechanical work. Put in fresh oil and filter, new valve cover gasket, removed plugs and hooked the starter up to a battery with jumpers. It spun on its own! Watched it for a while and the oil pressure made it's way up to 38 pounds. This is with some throwaway 30 weight (spin it a couple of times, drain, get it to fire, drain, then replace with good oil- it's always worked well for me on engines with spotty histories.) cold and running on the starter. Here's the rub...
Ran compression test. 90# on #5 cylinder, not enough to register on the other 5(!!??) "Thumb over the hole" test says there's SOMETHING happening in there, but the gauge doesn't show it. Yes, I re-ran the valves after the first readings and here's another clue.... The cylinder with pressure (#5) is the cylinder that had a stuck valve. Got it sorted with very little drama, just patience. All the rest cycled fine..... or so I think! And yes, I did shoot the cylinders with a couple of pumps of engine oil after the first no-go and retested. Not enough difference to go on.
BACKSTORY-- The last owner told me that he bought the car in about 1999. He got it running-- not running and driving, then started to remove everything that you can remove. The body was sandblasted and a bit of welding done and there it sat for a bit shy of 2 decades. I soaked the engine first thing I got it with MMO in all cylinders and down the rocker rails a few times.
Does any of this sound familiar? Something common to look at here other than pulling the head? I'm not at the point where an overhaul is in the cards yet- too many other things going on.
Thanks in advance for any input/ experiences/ miracle cures!
Best-
Mike Burgess
Albert, KS
Been on hiatus from the shop for a few week cleaning up the mess from the ice storm of 2017.
Finally spent a day on the car and made some progress. Couldn't face another day of welding and grinding so I went for some good old greasy-fingernail mechanical work. Put in fresh oil and filter, new valve cover gasket, removed plugs and hooked the starter up to a battery with jumpers. It spun on its own! Watched it for a while and the oil pressure made it's way up to 38 pounds. This is with some throwaway 30 weight (spin it a couple of times, drain, get it to fire, drain, then replace with good oil- it's always worked well for me on engines with spotty histories.) cold and running on the starter. Here's the rub...
Ran compression test. 90# on #5 cylinder, not enough to register on the other 5(!!??) "Thumb over the hole" test says there's SOMETHING happening in there, but the gauge doesn't show it. Yes, I re-ran the valves after the first readings and here's another clue.... The cylinder with pressure (#5) is the cylinder that had a stuck valve. Got it sorted with very little drama, just patience. All the rest cycled fine..... or so I think! And yes, I did shoot the cylinders with a couple of pumps of engine oil after the first no-go and retested. Not enough difference to go on.
BACKSTORY-- The last owner told me that he bought the car in about 1999. He got it running-- not running and driving, then started to remove everything that you can remove. The body was sandblasted and a bit of welding done and there it sat for a bit shy of 2 decades. I soaked the engine first thing I got it with MMO in all cylinders and down the rocker rails a few times.
Does any of this sound familiar? Something common to look at here other than pulling the head? I'm not at the point where an overhaul is in the cards yet- too many other things going on.
Thanks in advance for any input/ experiences/ miracle cures!
Best-
Mike Burgess
Albert, KS