8RT woes, "peeling an onion"

[FordyToo!]

Good Afternoon Gents!
I came over here after "flatheads'rus" died.
Those familiar with me there may remember I have a 1942 Ford 1.5 ton truck with a miltary box and hoist. The engine is a Canadian 8RT that had been dropped in sometime before I got the truck. (It was a wedding gift from my wife! Who else do you know that was introduced by his wife to "the Other Woman" on the day of their marriage!

Anyway, it has been a long drawn out process getting to run (again!) When I first got it the water pumps were leaking BAD! I have since replaced those. But my work on the truck has had its fits and starts as life got in the way (going back to college, numerous unemployments, adopting a daughter.

So, a couple years ago, I found out the engine was stuck! I eventually broke it loose with a pipe wrench on the crankshaft pulley, but it still had a lot of drag to it (the starter just looked at me and said "you've got to be kidding!) I used to be able to rotate the crank by turning the fan blades, no more. So, last Fall, I squirted Marvel's and 10W-30 into the spark lug holes and hoped it would loosen up over Winter... no such luck, stuck again, urged it loose, and it still dragged.

So, I decided it is "do or die" time, So, this summer I bought from Horror Fright an engine hoist, an engine stand, and a hoist equalizer. The plan was to get it out of the truck and into the shop before Winter hits again, and work on it some cold dark evenings.
So, over the past couple of months, I've drained the coolant, removed the radiator and started removing other stuff from the engine (the front clip was already off).
Last Friday, I got off work early and pulled the engine out (leaving behind the bellhousing) (Boy, that is gonna be a booger to put back in!)

The first thing I noticed is the Starter Ring Gear is skewed partially off of the Flywheel! (It had been welded on at some point and the welds broke). And so it hung on the hoist until I figured that I needed to remove the Clutch to get the engine mounted on the stand (as it is 8RT/8BA it doesn't have an integral bellhousing.) There still wasn't enough room back there to attach it to the stand, so a couple nights ago I took off the Flywheel. And then it mounted okay.
I've pulled off the heads, and keeping my record intact, I managed to break one of the small bolts holding the radiator spout, and the one that holds the distributor clamp down. (A couple of years ago I broke one for the coil mount, so the right hand head now has 3 small broken bolts in it. Did I mention that I have a terrible track record for removing broken bolts?)

Anyway, with a 1/2 inch breaker bar on the crankshaft bolt the engine spun "rather" freely, the pistons glide up and down, and so do the valves. No heart wrenching grinding noises! Today I checked the rear of the engine, and sure enough, there are places where the skewed Starter Ring Gear had been dragging on the back of the engine block.

I also noticed a couple of large water passages between the block and each head had been plugged by the gaskets!

So, now...
I plan to remove the intake manifold and see if it holds any surprises (when I pulled the oil pan loose last year, there wasn't much of the Legendary Sludge down there.)

Now, do I have to replace all the head bolts? I think I read somewhere that they get stretched when getting torqued down, and therefore need to be replaced.

The engine still has a lot of grime on it, I am not sure if I can afford to submit it for a bath. There is no sign of a ridge in the upper part of the cylinders.

Probably because the engine is Canadian, it doesn't have the serial number on the right rear top of the block, so I am not sure what year it is (49-53+) I notice that MACs has a couple of different Part Numbers for head gaskets depending on year.

Any (constructive) advice is welcome!

FordyToo!
dona nobis pacem

[Russ/40]

Hi 42, fancy meeting you here. My first thought was that motor may be rather low miles. I would be inclined to disassemble it completely and clean it all up. Check everything out, and if the tolerances are acceptable, put it back together. That ring gear could be the reason someone gave up on it.

[chap52]

Had a slipping ring gear that stopped the engine (8BA) from even turning over when I tried to start it. Pulled the starter and tapped it back in place with a long punch. (Band-aide). Had it happen a couple of times before I went to replace the TO bearing at which time I also replaced the ring gear.
Search this thread and You Tube for ring gear replacement process. I didn't have a torch to heat the new gear but putting it in my bar-b-q for about three minutes worked just fine.
You have it out and winter is coming (so I am told, AZ still in 90's) so I would do as Russ suggested to avoid maybe getting to pull it again down the road.
Great if that was the issue. Keep us posted.

[alanwoodieman]

pictures, we love pictures. truck-motor (down the bore) welcome to FB there is a lot of good knowledge here and better yet, FB'ers are willing to share it, offer advice and consultations. I have a 41 1/2 ton truck and a few other flatheads. keep us guys in the loop. Good Luck!

[Ol' Ron]

Allot to learn. 50/50 mix will help eliminate the broken bolt problem, and don't believe everything you hear about these engines. Their are books out there that can help, but logic is more important. No you don't need to replace the head bolts. Most of the guys here have first had knowledge of rebuilding these engines, so your in the right place.
Good luck.

[rotorwrench]

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Just be glad you didn't break any head bolts off. There are still a lot of 8RT heads out there if you can't easy out the broken stuff. I used to see a lot of new ones (NOS) still in the box not too long ago. Most folks are looking for the car heads like the EAB types from 52 & 53 anyway in order to boost compression but if you have a truck, the lower compression might be better for heavy load pulling. Re-using head bolts is no problem if they are still in good physical condition. FoMoCo made some tough bolts when they made those.

[cas3]

i have a flywheel, near shakoppe, pm me if you need it, skip

[FordyToo!]

I talked with a couple of friends after Church this morning.
They both said that as long as I've gone this far I may as well go further and take it to a shop to get it cleaned out.

Thanks everyone for your input!

FordyToo!
dona nobis pacem