Update on 1969 Ford Gasser

[TMo]

Probably a good thing I removed the head. Valves all look pretty good. I notice when inspecting the cylinder walls, that there are two identical grooves in the wall of cylinder #1. If you are looking at the cylinder from the right side of the tractor these groove are exactly at the 12 and 6 o'clock position. So, am I right to assess that I have a broken ring? What would you do next. Drop the oil pan knock the piston out and replace the rings, go ahead and replace the valves, and run her until she quits? I spent $2200 on this tractor and locale machine shop/tractor mechanic would probably charge >$2000 parts/labor to bore the cylinders and sleeve and put new pistons/rings/valves etc in it.

Thanks,

Tyler

 

[souNdguy]

if there's a groove or 2 in that hole, and I was on a budget.. while it goes against my grane.. I'd at least bore and push a liner into that hole.. and then re-ring the piston.

if I could aford rod and main bearings I'd do so..

if I could afford rings on all, I'd do so..

etc..

do what you can do and keep on going.

I wouldn't close her back up with a groove in the cyl wall though... even if I ONLY did a single liner and set of rings.. that would be the MINIMUM that I did.. that and the needed pan gasket and head gasket..e tc..

soundguy

 

[Ultradog MN]

I'm not sure how a broken ring could cause that severe of a loss of compression. Heck you could almost throw an old piston in a worn bore with NO rings and get nearly 50 psi of compression which is what you say you were getting on the compression test.
Can you estimate how deep those grooves are? Can you catch them with your fingernail?
Of course that piston will have to come out.
Drop the pan,undo the 2 bolts on that rod cap, pull the cap off then push the piston out the top of the block. Make a note of which way the cap was on the rod because it needs to go back on the same way.
If you could post some pictures it would help us here a lot in determining what you have.
Some good, clear pics of the bore and some pics of the piston/rings after you get it out would help. Also a pic of the rod bearing would help us determine how much wear on your bottom end and whether it's worth reusing your bearing.
If you can't post pictures you can email them to me and I could do it for you.
On a gasser I wouldn't be too concerned about cavitation and so would just bore oversize and install new pistons/rings. Thinking about it though, don't you have a pre 68 tractor? If so you probably have a 192 CI and not the more common 201 like the later engines had. Oversized pistons will be pricey for a 192.
Keep us posted. The help is here if you ask for it.
[email protected]

 

[RodinNS]

Well... if you got a bad cylinder (scored block) then the only real cure for that is to remove the block from the tractor and take it to a machine shop where they can put it under the boring bar and either bore it true or bore and sleeve it.
If you're that deep into it you might just as well do the rest of the job...
Other option is to put the lid back on and run it until it gets a lot worse or you have the necessary funds to fix it right...
or you could go the salvage route and buy a good used diesel engine for it. I've got one running now for 2-3 years with broken rings on one hole. It burns a little oil but otherwise works and pulls fine, starts fine... I just hear the clicking if I listen for it.


Rod