Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Building The Test Stand

Building the Test Stand

Today was interesting….I went to S&I metals and purchased some steel tubing that I intend to use in building some Engine stands. My intent is to take several engines I have, put them on the stands and see what it takes to get them started.

My interest in engines is in the 1930-1950 ford Flatheads. This is a V-8 engine introduced in the late 1930s revolutionized affordable V-8 horsepower and made it available to the public. Anyway a zillion of these engines were produced and while all internal combustion automotive engines are complex this one is fairly easy to understand. I have about ten of them stashed about the farm.

Finding one that is rebuild able is a challenge. You must take apart six before you find one that is suitable for a rebuild. You don’t know until you get it apart if it is good or not and they don’t usually come with a guarantee. As a result, when I buy one it is well below the fair market value of $400 because like the princess you have to kiss a bunch of frogs before you find the right one.

Once you get it apart you look for cracks in the block. A few around the head bolts are OK but when they disappear down into the cylinders I tend to reject them. Yes the can be repaired and sleeved but if you intend to spend the money to do a rebuild it pays to start with a good block.

If you find one and decide to replace all the components with new stuff the components will cost about $4.5K. The machining and rebuild labor will cost again that much and it is easy to put $10K into a first class rebuild.

There is however another option…that is to take the think apart, clean it, put it back together and see what you have. It is possible to get lucky. For example, suppose the car deteriorated or was in an accident before the engine wore out. Bingo! You have a good engine without having to do a rebuild…or maybe all you have to do is replace the piston rings or some other repair that is relatively inexpensive. Thus a builder should be prepared for dealing with the best or the worst that life has to offer.

The plan then is to remove the ancillary components first such as the oil filter, carburetor, coil, fan, water pumps etc. Then see if the engine will turn over. If it won’t pour some “Marvel Oil” into the spark plug holes and let it sit for a couple of days. I did this with an engine in a truck that was sold to me on the owners assumption that the engine had “Locked up.“ As good fortune would have it the engine loosened up, was subsequently started and runs very well…this was a circumstance in which I was extremely lucky…like going into an antique store and finding an overlooked piece of Meissen. Don’t hold your breath but it does happen.

If the engine turns over, proceed to take the heads off and inspect the valves and cylinders for cracks. If you don’t see any, button it back up, clean the carburetor, replace the points and see if it will start. Sometimes they actually do…no surprise there…isn’t that what an engine is supposed to do?
Anyway this is to be the macro plan with this engine I am about to tear down after I get the test stand built. I’ll keep you posted on how things progress.