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Will she start?

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MissouriLarry

MissouriLarry

New User
Location
Elsberry, MO
So I picked me up a 1949 8N at a auction about a month ago. It had belonged to a friend of mines brother who had passed away. It had been partially taken apart and was sold in a non-running condition. They had taken the sheet metal, carb, gas tank and some other small parts. Some things were also missing. I am guessing they had also taken apart the wiring harness as it was all hooked up wrong when I started working on it. They even had the spark plug wires backwards! LOL I am not making fun of them, at least they tried, that is all I ask. I rebuilt the carb, and put her back together. She is ready to start except for the 6-volt battery. I am picking that up this weekend. I got the fluids topped off and she is ready to give a try. Hopefully she fires up without too much issues.
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Once I get the battery I am going to pull the plugs and spin it over until my oil pressure comes up. I'm going to see if she will fire up and run before I do any compression check. I don't know exactly how long she has sat and would like to give the rings a chance to have a good heat cycle and let the oil circulate well before doing so.
 
HCooke said:
Betting it will start. I'm not too far away from you. I'm located in Pacific.
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I have been to Pacific, used to ride our motorcycle down that way. Somewhere in that area I had the best burger I have ever had. Cant remember the name but it was an old gas station that had been made into a bar/grill.
 
Well,
I got the answer to my question on Saturday. NO was the answer. It started out not getting any spark but I pulled the distributor cleaned and adjusted the points. She now had spark but wouldn't even try. Compression test revealed no compression on number 2 & 3. Pulled the head and just as I was thinking, it had 3 stuck valves. Two of the free I was able to free up with some penetrating oil and some light love with a rubber mallet. I kept working them until they were free. The third valve was another story, it was stuck fast and stuck bad. I would up having to pull the whole valve assembly and will be ordering new. Now to get things cleaned up and waiting on parts. Round number two coming soon!
 
HarryVanderpool said:
Round 2 is cutting precision, 3 angle valve seats, per specifications for the new valve assembly.
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Not exactly, round 2 may include lapping in a new valve to the old seat but that is as fancy is it is going to be. This 77 year old flathead isn't going to care. It is not a rebuild nor a restoration. I just want it running well enough to plow snow in the winter.
 
"This 77 year old flathead isn't going to care."
I beg to differ.
A precision valve service makes a TREMENDOUS difference in performance and longevity.
"Lapping" valves is very poor practice.
The head is off, the valves are out.
Why skip the most important step?
Just remember; you can always do it right, THE SECOND time around.
 
HarryVanderpool said:
"This 77 year old flathead isn't going to care."
I beg to differ.
A precision valve service makes a TREMENDOUS difference in performance and longevity.
"Lapping" valves is very poor practice.
The head is off, the valves are out.
Why skip the most important step?
Just remember; you can always do it right, THE SECOND time around.
Click to expand...
I appreciate and value all input, but I am not going that route. If I was rebuilding the engine then certainly. I am replacing one valve to see if the tractor will run and drive. The valves are easily enough to work on if I have issues in the future. I have never heard this tractor run or operate. I purchased it at an auction. If everything works well I may do so in the future, but not now. It is my tractor and my decision but I do appreciate your thoughts.
 
Well, after a long battle I finally got her running. It started off with no spark, then found the 3 stuck valves. Got the valves taken care of and found she had very low compression due to the piston rings being stuck, 50 psi and below. Kept soaking her down in ATF and turning her over. Now the lowest was 85 psi and got her running well but found someone had the governor hooked up wrong. Fixed this issue and found the clutch was frozen up and would not release so this morning it was time to split her. The clutch disk was frozen to the pressure plate quite bad, it took a hammer and putty knife to separate them. Parts are ordered from YT and hopefully I have them by the weekend. This is the chance you take when purchasing a unit from a estate auction I guess.
 

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