The Ford Barn

30 Tudor · 04-03-2017, 01:42 PM

Thanks for everything, this is an amazing site,, wish I would have found it sooner than I did, would have saved me a ton of grief,,my wife now thinks that I live on fordbarn! And ford garage!
I have a question for all you smart experienced folks on here.
I purchased a nice barn car, 30 Tudor the engine was good, original numbers, just no shims left in any bearings, so since I don’t pour babbit I took it to some one that claims to have done hundreds, just to freshen it up, I let the pro do his stuff, all the other A guys use him,,it had all the valve seats replaced, new Babbitt, ground crank, rods,,ect.
When I picked up the engine it had been painted inside and out with cast iron color paint on top of old sludge and dirt. The crank didn’t feel right, it ended up being 4.5 thou. Off center on the center main with 5 thou shims added so it would turn.(I didn’t want it turned to begin with it was standard and in good shape but it got turned anyway)
The rods were 20 grams out from each other and the wrist pins were looser that they were at the start. None of the caps were original to the block or rods,,they were matched when I brought it in. The new cam-crank gear had been beaten on cold and was well deformed and the edges of the teeth rolled.I tried to very calmly talk about some things that I could see and got my butt chewed real good and told that that was good enough for a model A, I never do work like that and it is not good enough for me.
I’m not interested in bad mouthing anyone in public, but this is only to establish a baseline for my question.
For interest I will ad that I started turning bolts at about age 12, was very serious by 16,(built my first engine tranny and rear end) and did it for a lively hood for many years, everything from bumper to bumper, specializing in auto transmissions, engines and anything else. I have a reputation for excellent work, I am a perfectionist, I now make violins, very nice ones according to professional players, I don’t say any of this to boast, I’m just a plain ol half dumb guy who’s not afraid to try and, so now you know where I am coming from. I learned to drive in a 28 Tudor,I always wanted one and after all these years this is MY CAR FOR ME The entire car is apart from bumper to bumper, and every bearing and clip that is needed will be.
I thought that I had seen it all! But when I got this engine back I was in shock! Seriously, as in no comprehendo!
I was SO STUPID for letting him tell me that the seats are always changed in a model a,,what a fool I can be. After reading on here,,about the seats I feel like a total idiot, and I am ashamed to say that I bet I could have gotten 40,000 miles out of the valves the way they were.
So now I have a Burlington crank , new rods,with inserts. (the new babbit broke out like glass into tiny pieces) I have taken a brass punch and tapped lightly around on the seats and they did settle some more, barely, barely,,,,, but they did move. Funny thing they look beautiful. I am a perfectionist and after the other work I cannot rest that they are not too tight or too loose or might have a piece of iron under the seats to rock on and get loose. I feel like I have been in a nightmare.
So for and experiment and a baseline,,,I took the original head and peened around a bolt hole on the top, and put a socket in the hole from underneath and drove it through to test the malleability and strength of the peened cast, and I really had to drive the socket past the peening and the cast did not even chip out as the socket pushed through. That is some tough cast iron.
So my question is do I pull out the seats check the fit and roll the edge and put them back in and peen,,, or do I drive across the USA with a knot in my stomach always wondering?
Is the block iron the same as the head, will it peen the same?
If this was your car,,,what would you do?
Thanks for everything, this is an amazing site,, wish I would have found it sooner than I did, would have saved me a ton of grief,,my wife now thinks that I live on fordbarn! And ford garage!

Thanks
Still Queezie

04-03-2017, 01:42 PM	#1
30 Tudor Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Idaho Posts: 95	Nightmare Engine Rebuild Thanks for everything, this is an amazing site,, wish I would have found it sooner than I did, would have saved me a ton of grief,,my wife now thinks that I live on fordbarn! And ford garage! I have a question for all you smart experienced folks on here. I purchased a nice barn car, 30 Tudor the engine was good, original numbers, just no shims left in any bearings, so since I don’t pour babbit I took it to some one that claims to have done hundreds, just to freshen it up, I let the pro do his stuff, all the other A guys use him,,it had all the valve seats replaced, new Babbitt, ground crank, rods,,ect. When I picked up the engine it had been painted inside and out with cast iron color paint on top of old sludge and dirt. The crank didn’t feel right, it ended up being 4.5 thou. Off center on the center main with 5 thou shims added so it would turn.(I didn’t want it turned to begin with it was standard and in good shape but it got turned anyway) The rods were 20 grams out from each other and the wrist pins were looser that they were at the start. None of the caps were original to the block or rods,,they were matched when I brought it in. The new cam-crank gear had been beaten on cold and was well deformed and the edges of the teeth rolled.I tried to very calmly talk about some things that I could see and got my butt chewed real good and told that that was good enough for a model A, I never do work like that and it is not good enough for me. I’m not interested in bad mouthing anyone in public, but this is only to establish a baseline for my question. For interest I will ad that I started turning bolts at about age 12, was very serious by 16,(built my first engine tranny and rear end) and did it for a lively hood for many years, everything from bumper to bumper, specializing in auto transmissions, engines and anything else. I have a reputation for excellent work, I am a perfectionist, I now make violins, very nice ones according to professional players, I don’t say any of this to boast, I’m just a plain ol half dumb guy who’s not afraid to try and, so now you know where I am coming from. I learned to drive in a 28 Tudor,I always wanted one and after all these years this is MY CAR FOR ME The entire car is apart from bumper to bumper, and every bearing and clip that is needed will be. I thought that I had seen it all! But when I got this engine back I was in shock! Seriously, as in no comprehendo! I was SO STUPID for letting him tell me that the seats are always changed in a model a,,what a fool I can be. After reading on here,,about the seats I feel like a total idiot, and I am ashamed to say that I bet I could have gotten 40,000 miles out of the valves the way they were. So now I have a Burlington crank , new rods,with inserts. (the new babbit broke out like glass into tiny pieces) I have taken a brass punch and tapped lightly around on the seats and they did settle some more, barely, barely,,,,, but they did move. Funny thing they look beautiful. I am a perfectionist and after the other work I cannot rest that they are not too tight or too loose or might have a piece of iron under the seats to rock on and get loose. I feel like I have been in a nightmare. So for and experiment and a baseline,,,I took the original head and peened around a bolt hole on the top, and put a socket in the hole from underneath and drove it through to test the malleability and strength of the peened cast, and I really had to drive the socket past the peening and the cast did not even chip out as the socket pushed through. That is some tough cast iron. So my question is do I pull out the seats check the fit and roll the edge and put them back in and peen,,, or do I drive across the USA with a knot in my stomach always wondering? Is the block iron the same as the head, will it peen the same? If this was your car,,,what would you do? Thanks for everything, this is an amazing site,, wish I would have found it sooner than I did, would have saved me a ton of grief,,my wife now thinks that I live on fordbarn! And ford garage! Thanks Still Queezie