Projects High compression heads worth it?

Find someone close that knows what they are talking about and get the engine checked out. You could be lucky and it may only need a hone and new rings. Don't write it off yet. Ask your Dad if he knows a mechanic. I bet he does. The buggers are everywhere.

Any Philly Hambers that are willing to step up and help a young member out? Now is the time to put your hand up. There are many on the list, but I have no idea how many are current or worth their salt.

 

100 stock hp, probably making more like 89 hp right now

 

yeah that's pretty much exactly it.

 

My mom knows a guy who has a bunch of old corvettes and he takes them to a guy to get them fixed he gave me his card his name is mark cavanaugh I think she told me to call him

 

It may not be all bad news. Sometimes these motors just get gunked up. Rings & valves stick, etc. Believe or not, cheap pour ins like Marvel Mystery Oil or Seafoam can help.

These old engines started with non-detergent oil. If not changed regularly, it really can sludge stuff up.

Take it slow and ask for help. Getting compression readings on all 8 holes will tell you a lot of what is going on. If you need it, I'd be willing to send out a compression testing gauge that you screw into each spark plug hole. Crank and read the gauge and take notes of the reading.

If they are low and you squirt oil into the hole and take the reading again and it comes up, then it's telling you you have either sticky rings or, worst case scenario, poor ring seating and a possible re-ring or rebuild may be needed.

Good old cast iron rings are still available. Depending on how bad the cylinder is, these old style rings can make up for a lot of mechanical sins for the time being.

You'd also be really surprised of what good tune up will do. Those loadamatic distributors were on the verge of junk as new. Bad points, condensers, out of time, fouled plugs, worn out spark plug wires, etc will only make things worse. If it hasn't been done within the last 20 years or so, the carb more than likely could benefit from a rebuild as well. They are very simple and you can do it yourself fairly easily.

Don't give up. We are here to help you.

 

Jump on that. He might be the help you need. And if there are things you can do for him, it might not cost you as much as you think.

To the rest of you guys following along, NO, not those sort of things that he could do. I meant mowing of lawns, cleaning of cars, and the like.....

 

I replaced the condenser and points because they were completely shot. At one point the car wouldn't even start and it only ran with starting fluid but now it can start on its own which is good I think the timing might be slightly off as well

 

Have you pulled the spark plugs? If so, what do they look like? You are looking for chocolate milk-ish brown.

 

Yeah I used to hang out in a couple motorcycle shops doing that kind of stuff and taking stuff apart for the mechanics and cleaning crap, pulling tires off rims, making gaskets, etc. Funny story About that, he gave me a carb spacer to trace for the gasket and I kept doing it but they wouldn't fit, about 7 gaskets later he realized the spacer was the wrong size haha And there used to be this shop around the corner from my house, this old man had a 1934 Ford he restored he showed me all the photos he showed me how to adjust the valves on a flathead and he even had the tool for it, he had a 8ba in the shop he was doing the lifters on. There was also a 1957 chevrolet a 1959 new yorker and a couple motorcycles in there but he sold the shop last year.

 

They used to be soot black before I adjusted the carburetor but now they're just a little black

 

Start by talking to these guys, especially the old guy that had the shop around the corner. Just because he sold up doesn't mean he wouldn't help you out. You never know if you never ask. He might just jump at the chance to share his passion for old cars with you.

 

Keep on it. You want to make sure you have a solid engine before you even think about "hopping it up". One think I haven't heard is about oil in the water and over heating problems. This means you probably have a good (crack-free) block. The crankshaft and rods are probably good, too. You seem to have some good contacts; if this is true, a rebuild on a solid flathead is not that expensive. The last one I did was $2100 including the used speed equipment I had accumulated over the years It was a 258 ci engine with close-out Offenhauser .125 pistons from Speedway, an Isky MAX-1, and a set of Edmunds heads.

It can be done.

 

He moved away unfortunately

 

Don’t be afraid to ask.
If a neighborhood young person walked up to me and started asking flathead, stovebolt…..questions, I think I’d try my best to help.

 

Agree with Tubman. Loosen the distributor clamp and SLOWLY turn it both ways. Without a timing light, you'll be doing it by sound, so listen for higher revs or almost stalling. Rev it while you're doing it. After a while, you'll be able to hear where it wants to be. I don't fool with 8BA's, but I believe (I could be wrong) they have timing marks on the pulley and there is a pointer on the distributor cover. Using a timing light will tell you if you are on the mark or not.

 

Another thought. Assuming your brakes and tires are up to snuff, have you taken it on the highway and planked it?

Sometime running them hard can help loosen up rings, etc.

 

That's a good point.
Sometimes a good run does an engine the world of good, especially if it has been sitting for a long time.

And sometimes not.......

 

Gotcha. I learned how to use a timing light at Penn tech camp but I don't have one

 

Brakes and tires are fine but its never been driving more than 45 mph while I've had it

 

It does run smooth and quiet when it warms up but when you hit the gas it takes a second to smooth out, probably normal but to explain what I mean I'll try to "sound it out" here, so it's idling, you hit the gas, it goes "Kakakabrrrrrrr" like it sputters for a second before it smooths out

 

It really sounds like the carb could use a good cleaning, going through or rebuild. It could also be a timing issue and it takes revs to correct itself. Did you notice if the previous owner added a fuel filter somewhere in the line?

 

So true. I didn't want to get into the and sometimes not scenario. LOL!

 

There's a fuel filter in the fuel pump. And I cleaned the carburetor last year when I got it, and it was nearly spotless inside

 

Right about fuel filter. I'm talking about an add on. Sometimes people add these to the line for sone reason. Just poke around to see if one was added. If so, it could be plugged up.

Spotless carb is a good sign, but it doesn't mean the jets or other parts aren't clogged up. From what you described, it seems like there is a fuel delivery issue when the throttle is pressed going to wide open.

 

Make sure that the vacuum pod on the distributor is functional, because a dead vacuum advance on 1949-53 Ford V8s leaves you with no advance at all.

 

Yeah when it wide open it's fine it's when you first press on it doesn't have much power. And there isn't any other filters anywhere

 

Just checked the tires they seemed low they are pretty low in front, supposed to be 24 psi only 16 ish and I inflated them so hopefully that'll get the handling better, topped up the back too to 21 psi

 

Same here and backing it up with a bicycle and another bike to back that one up . WHY !!??
Yes all my 221 engines have been stock to mild builds just to get a little traffic muscle in the engines but now got an 8BA build and it's a bit above a mild build now that I am acquiring the parts and letting the engine build itself with what is locally available and what size the bores should be for a clean cylinder so it's a .080 over build I found some forged pistons slightly used and an unfinished Clay Smith 282-2 cam that will break up the arthritis in my broken parts and I'm not an idle guy so I'm ok with the cam got EAB-B heads seems they never milled for good compression to back up the cam and a conservative Edmunds intake with a Carter WCFB fired by a Mallory/Pertronix going in a fiberglass 32 Tudor . The engine built itself and luck chose the parts only thing in a catalog are internal bolt/nut kits and a Best gasket set with thin coppers . I wanna maintain engines low end torque character and will with the Merc crank and porting and relieving is done conservatively . Still riding the bus and riding bicycles and swore off driving till the project is ready for the pavement . Good luck with yours just let it talk to you and find parts sources with a smile and open hand attached to them it's great fun indeed

 

It's more of a "mother's worry" problem haha

 

24 front and 21 rear is proper for bias ply tires. If you are running radials, it is too low. Radials want pressures slightly over 30 psi.