1953 Ford Jubilee Compression Test

[Codylk2019]

I have a 1953 Jubilee that I inherited from family a few years back. Prior to me inheriting the tractor, it had sat in a barn for quite some time.
I’m going through the tractor as much as possible, replacing all necessary worn components (points, plugs, wires, wiring harness, ect).
I’m having a difficult time getting the tractor to start and when it does it seems to have an intermittent misfire leading to a “puff” out of the exhaust at idle. I’ve decided to rule out air leaking via intake manifold and ordered parts to replace. Yesterday I decided to take compression readings of all four cylinders and results are as follows:
Cylinder 1: 95 psi (106 wet)
Cylinder 2: 90 psi (94 wet)
Cylinder 3: 82 psi (90 wet)
Cylinder 4: 95 psi (100 wet)
Next Day:
Cylinder 1: 95 psi
Cylinder 2: 90 psi
Cylinder 3: 90 psi
Cylinder 4: 95 psi

My question is:
1. Are these within decent usable limits (I understand it’s a 70+ year old tractor)
2. Is this causing the hard starting/ misfire
3. Any remedies other than full rebuild

I also adjusted the valves to .015 as the book says.
I set timing on the tractor to 8 degrees as well
Any other ideas or comments on hard starting issue or thoughts on compression would be greatly appreciated.

I’m not opposed to full blow re-build as I’ve done so to a farmall super a in the past but I would like to get a few uesable years first around the farm.
Thanks

 

[Jim L WA]

Hi Cody; welcome to the forum. I no longer have my NAA or the owners manual. I think those numbers are a bit low, but it should still start and run.
Because it has been sitting for years, I would just get it started and let it run, drive it around and hopefully loosen up the rings and get the valves moving up and down freely. See if that helps and let us know. You might want to freshen up the transmission, hydraulic and rear end oil too.

 

[Codylk2019]

Hi Cody; welcome to the forum. I no longer have my NAA or the owners manual. I think those numbers are a bit low, but it should still start and run.
Because it has been sitting for years, I would just get it started and let it run, drive it around and hopefully loosen up the rings and get the valves moving up and down freely. See if that helps and let us know. You might want to freshen up the transmission, hydraulic and rear end oil too.

Thank you! I’ve replaced all fluids throughout the tractor. I’m going to put a timing light on it once I have the manifold gasket replaced to fine tune the static timing I did earlier. I’ve heard that I should check the advance weight in distributor, I don’t know what to look for there if you or anyone could offer advice.
Does a fuel issue come to mind for anyone? Plugs did have a little wetness and smell of gas.
Hoping that helps, it’s never any fun wearing your battery down and scratching your head trying to get her started every time.

 

[Btzj02]

My weights were frozen in place. Symptoms were that the tractor would start but increasing the throttle made it run pretty rough, no advance. Removed points mounting plate, removed weight assembly. Cleaned and inspected the weight assembly. I was able to free up the weights so they moved freely but a replacement is available if needed.

 

[DanielW]

I agree with Jim above: Numbers a little on the low side, but still startable and usable. With it having been sitting, it could very well be some hardened carbon/sludge in the rings preventing them from sealing fully. Regarding the 'puff', I'd start by setting the valves. I always err on the side of a little too much gap when setting the valves (by two or three thou). A little less power, but usually less likely to burn up an exhaust valve.

As long as it's not popping/backfiring, however, before I did any of that I'd run it with a load and let it clean itself up. Whenever I bring home and old/sitting engine, I pull the plugs and spray down each cylinder (and the valve area) through the plug hole with a hefty-dose of a good penetrant: The GM penetrating oil or Deep Creep are my preferences. That'll help loosen up any rings and break up any carbon deposits. It's amazing what a difference it can make to an old engine if you do that then run it hard/hot for a bit.

 

[soaked]

Hi CodyIK2019,
Will spark jump a 1/4" gap?
Should hear a nice loud SNAP.
Weak spark is a likely reason for hard starting when cold, or hot.

 

[MeanGene1]

With the ignition in good shape, I would do a couple Seafoam treatments on it to clean the cobwebs and bats out of it. I do it on anything I drag home, tractor, car whatever. Works pretty well to soften up and remove carbon off valves, out of rings etc

 

[Codylk2019]

Thank you all for the great responses, I installed the manifold gasket this morning so I should be on my way to testing it out again. Yes the spark when I tested it would jump the gap and was a good blue spark. But I still need to check the distributor advance. I’ll report back.

 

[Mad Farmer]

Acetone and ATF works good for freeing up rings.

90psi is kind of low, were any of the valves too tight when you set them? If so check compression again.

My cousin's NAA ran with this head gasket. 135psi #1 and #4, 0 on #2-3. Found a few leaky valves too.

 

[Codylk2019]

Update: thank you all for the great replies and trouble shooting. Sorry for the long post, here is what I’ve discovered/ done thus far
1. I was missing the rotor clip and ordered 2, one for a spare. Upon installing and correctly timing tractor with a timing light, it still seemed as if it was running rough once warm and was on the “difficult” side as starting goes. I would like to note that when I installed the rotor clip and rotor, there still seemed to be a lot of play or slop in the rotor.
After running the tractor around the farm for about an hour and a half and going inside for supper, I decided to (don’t laugh at me) install the second rotor clip over the first. ( thinking of it as a shim to keep rotor cap tight on the shaft) and from what I can tell after this evening it worked! The rotor is very tight on the shaft with no play, tractor starts very quickly and easily and timing marks when observing with timing light are much more consistent and not as “jumpy” as before. So my question on this is… was the rotor clip that I purchased from Steiner just way too thin of metal or a bad part, seeing I used two to get the proper grab on the rotor button.
2. Upon trouble shooting the above problem a few weeks ago, I also notice that I was not getting any charge reading on either the ammeter or battery. Through research and trouble shooting I concluded that I had a faulty voltage regulator. This afternoon the parts came in and I replaced both ammeter and voltage regulator, polarized and started the tractor. I was reading 6.89 to 7.15 volts at the battery but the ammeter was reading a discharge of the same value as above.
I don’t know if it was hairbrained of myself or what but I figured that I simply had the wires the incorrect orientation on the ammeter so I reversed them. Started the tractor again and now no charge on battery, reading 6.38 volts..
so I shut the tractor down and re-polarized voltage regulator again and still nothing.
Did I somehow ruin the new voltage regulator in the process of switching wires? What is their normal orientation? Why was the ammeter reading a discharge when it was charging the battery?

3. I also purchased a new tachometer/ proof reader due to the original being extremely inconsistent on rpm reading. New one works great but the tractor will not idle below 900 rpm. Is this a problem as I believe the tractor should be timed via light 8 degrees BTDC at 450 rpm?

So overall the positives are, by using not one but 2 rotor clips the tractor starts very quickly and seems to run well, but now I’m not getting any charge on a new voltage regulator. And my tractor seems to idle at a high rpm. Any help troubleshooting would be great!

 

[Mad Farmer]

I would clean all your connections and recheck the wiring.

Ampmeter will read discharge if you have the wires reversed.

I attached a wiring diagram and owners manual. I have the shop manual but it's too big to attach. Send me a PM with an email address if you need it.