Looking for an engine rebuilder in Virginia

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2013: Looking for an engine rebuilder in Virginia
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chester Leighton on Sunday, October 20, 2013 - 06:34 pm:

After finishing the valve work this weekend, I started pulling the pistons to see how much wear I had. I've been burning oil so I'm checking everything. There was 50 thousands end gap in the compression rings on #1 piston and 180thousands on the oil ring. I don't have a micrometer so I used a feeler gage between the piston and bore and got 12 thousands at any place in the bore. There is a noticeable ridge at the bottom of the bore where the oil ring stops. I haven't pulled the other pistons but I'm not optimistic. I had the cylinders bored and 20 over aluminum pistons put in 3K miles ago. The pistons are scuffed/longitudinal scratches all around but worse in the direction of crank rotation. I need a machine shop in or near central Virginia that know how to work on a model T engine. The shop I used 4 years ago went out of business. I need some work on my crank shaft as well. I can't afford 5K to rebuild the engine, I just need me crank journals trued and the front seal area of the crank built back up. I need the work done correctly so the new pistons and rings fit right and I don't have to do this again in another 3K miles. Any Info you can give will be appreciated.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fred Wicker on Sunday, October 20, 2013 - 06:47 pm:

Davis Machine on 360 at the chesterfield/Richmond line. Also theres a Machine shop in the lakeside area that I understand that can do babbit.
Or James Rogers in N.C can fix you up. He's over on Fordbarn on the Model A side.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James Michael Rogers on Sunday, October 20, 2013 - 08:02 pm:

I am on this site also. I do just the babbitt or complete rebuilds.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By R. S. Cruickshank on Sunday, October 20, 2013 - 08:15 pm:

I would get with Jesse Peiffer in Pinetops Nc. He is about 4 hours from you. Jesse is very meticulous in his work and runs his engines in on a stand to ensure they sound and do right. He comes from an old time T family and knows his stuff. He can be reached 252.827.4027 or 252.955.5618 on his cell.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Roger Karlsson, southern Sweden on Sunday, October 20, 2013 - 08:25 pm:

After just 3000 miles? What do you think has gone wrong? Did you run it low on oil at some point? Did it ever seize when you were running it in?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By samuel pine on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 07:44 am:

Agreed, Roger, my best guess its wasnt correct in
the first place. These engines are well known for
being forgiven, they ran an ran only being close
enough but, for 3,000 mi and those end gaps got me
scratchin cause thats not wear, not even close enought, more like the wrong
rings in the first place.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By samuel pine on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 07:46 am:

I re- read the post I figured it out "thats why they
went out of business"


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Patrick on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 08:11 am:

www.enginerestoration.com. I sent my engine to George King III from Florida to Connecticutt and it was worth it. Jim Patrick


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Musegh Kalon on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 10:22 am:

Looks like it wore out because of poor machine work and you can’t just do some crankshaft work without affecting the babbitt if they couldn’t do this portion of the engine correctly what makes you think the rest of it is good.

We use J and M Machine in Mass for all of our motors as they do all of the work in house on state of the art machinery.
www.jandm-machine.com
Give them a call.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James A. Golden on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 10:43 am:

Those piston scuff marks are usually caused by pistons that do not have adequate clearance for expansion when hot or dirty oil. I had a similar problem from not completely cleaning the blasting material from inside the crankcase or not changing the first oil soon enough.

The oil smoke problem with my last engine removed was the valves were still original and the valve guide areas were excessively worn.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By roy palmer on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 11:27 am:

Frustrating problem. Ive seen this before. I gave up shopping around a long time ago because of the incompetent work I have experienced by some of the so called "experts".

I ship up to J and M in Massachusetts, they get it done right and I dont have to worry that Im wasting more money on redo's


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Richard Gould on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 02:12 pm:

I'll be glad to walk you thru the process. You can find a local auto machine shop to power hone your cylinders to achieve .005" clearance. You can lightly sand off any ridges on the pistons and get new rings to fit better. If the size appropriate for your cylinders is too small, exchange them for the next oversize and carefully file the ends to achieve the proper clearance. Re the crank, if the fit isn't right, there are some things you can do yourself. There is a sleeve you can buy for the front seal. If you do the work yourself, save for having the cylinders power honed, it won't cost much. Be glad to help.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chester Leighton on Monday, October 21, 2013 - 08:29 pm:

Thanks for all the responses. The engine never seized and It never ran low on oil or even ran hot. It always got me home even when it was running rough. It got to where it started hard and didn't have ant power so I checked compression and went from there to where I am now. I'm going to try to borrow a 3-4" micrometer and a telescoping gage to measure the bore and get a better feel for what I have but I'm betting I'm going to have to go to 0.040 over to get the bores cleaned up. I think the ring end gap is excessive because the bore diameter has opened up. If , foe example, you were to put standard rings with proper gaps in a bore that was 0.020 over sized, the end gaps would be excessive like mine are now. I think the bore wore in my engine for two reasons. 1. the piston clearance was not right when it was bored and honed for the 0.020 over size pistons. 2. the ring end gap was insuficent when the new rings were installed and they enlarged the bore as the engine ran. A contributor the the piston scuffing was likely wrist pins that were too tight combined with oil contamination. The issues with the crank were never addressed from the first disassembly. That's on me, I thought 0.002 out of round on crank and main journals was within serviceable limits. I feel some what stupid for putting the time and money into purchasing the Neway valve seat cutter. The valves had to be replaced definitely but now I'm not sure if I cut the seats correctly. All this adds up to what I have now. It reinforces the fact that I need qualified help to put the engine back to rights. I just don't know if I can afford it. Anyone want to buy a 1919 Stover V 1hp ice cream freezer unit?


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