keithb7

I was thinking I would use Permatex Orange spray on gasket sealer. Is this ok? Seen here https://fortnine.ca/en/permatex-copper-spray-a-gasket-high-temp-sealant @55 Fargo Spitfire, the engine seemed to run pretty good before the bent valve incident. As I mentioned the car is new to me, so I am unsure what the engine should make for power, when healthy. I am sure it will be better when I am done as I seal up the valves. I pulled few valves today. Spring compressor has not arrived yet, so I used a pry bar and make up some small blocks of wood to improve leverage. I learned today whey #6 cylinder was dead. It too has a slightly bent valve intake valve and was not sealing well at all. You can see in the photo, after I cleaned the valves up and put a flash light into the intake bore of the head. See #6 intake, and #5 intake lit up here: I am left wondering what was going on, on the valve faces of number 5 and 6 intake? Aside from the bent valves, see the corrosion? I cleaned up the valves with a wire wheel on my bench top grinder. Here is a pic comparing what 5 and 6 intake look like compared to all the rest of the valves. 5 and 6 exhaust are not pitted this this.

Here is my 1953 Windsor. Not art deco, but pretty neat in my books. Most everything works. Did these cars have window defroster vents in the dash? The heater control has defrost options, but I see no vents. Possibly an earlier owner covered them up when they recovered the dash? Not that it will ever see cold or rain again, but just curious.

The perpetrator has been located, hiding down in the intake manifold. At #5 intake. A small screw. I can only suspect the previous owner, or a helper dropped this down in the spark plug recessed area in the head. Could not find where it ended up and moved on. A new step is now burned into my brain, compressed air will be blown around all spark plug holes before any plugs are removed.

Moving right along here. Manifolds are off. The valve spring tool I orderd looks exactly like yours @Dodgeb4ya. I must say, these old cars are a pleasure to work on compared to new cars. I recall the painstaking experience my son and I endured, replacing the 16V dual OH cam cylinder head on his 1993 Honda Prelude a few years ago. Ha, what a job that was compared this 53 Chrysler. That's some real nice sludge in some of the oil pockets around the valve tappets. I really should be proceeding to pull the complete engine and rebuild it. The timing is just not right. I have some big financial commitments coming up soon. I need some time to squirrel away some cash for the parts and machining I'll need. I am hoping to get by for the summer on just a repair at this time. I found the culprit that caused the bent valve, a small screw. It was sitting down in the intake manifold.

Hi folks, I thought I would start a new thread on the valve work I will be doing on my 53 Windsor Deluxe. L6 engine. New to me car, so I'll have some questions to ask as I move along. The head is off, RF inner fender well removed. I have ordered a valve spring compressor tool. The straight scissor type. Its not in yet. Today however I was hoping to compress the springs, maybe with a pry bar, remove the keepers and finally the valves. My hope was that I could do this, while leaving the intake and exhaust manifolds in place. I am thinking that is not the case. Here is a pic as it sits today. I don't believe I would be able to use the valve compressor tool with this limited access. So shall I proceed to fully remove manifolds? I read in the shop manual that it's best to adjust the valves with the car running, and at operating temperature. Is that possible with this limited access? #6 valves being the most difficult to access. Thanks for your help. - Keith

Thanks for the warm welcome folks. I can see already that I'll like it here. I sense some good knowledge and experience in the forum. I find these forums extremely valuable in enabling me to service and maintain the car. Using my own to hands, my experience, along with some guidance from others. I have yet to meet another owner of the same car, so the internet with these groups, put in contact with you folks from all over the world. As @Plymouthy Adams mentioned, #5 intake valve suffered a collision. It is bent and stuck open. The story on the valve goes like this: Last Saturday, 1 week ago, I wanted to go to a local car show. The car has only been in my possession for 1 month so far. I have been working a little on it almost everyday. Checking things over. Fixing little things. Finding problems and improving them. The previous owner had missed some simple things that I found like, 1 missing exhaust flange nut at pipe to manifold. 2 missing manifold nuts at head. The 2 carb mounting nuts were coming loose. Little stuff, no big deal. I have put about 400 miles on the car so far, but still had more work to do, to earn its trust. I had yet to pull and inspect the spark plugs or do a compression test. I pulled the spark plugs one at a time. I inspected, cleaned, gapped them and re-installed them. After that the car ran like crap. I was struggling to understand what I had done. I have pulled and installed plugs many many times over my life. Such a simple task. There was nothing complicated here to cause a problem. I began thinking about what I had done, racking my brain with no solution. So I began throwing parts at it. I installed new spark plugs, new coil wires, new points, new condenser, all with no improvement. I checked TDC against the distributor. All good. The primary and secondary ignition systems all seemed to be in good shape. I had to take a few breaks as the frustration mounted. I took my time and tried to stay calm, but still things were not adding up. Time for a compression test. I found that the spark plug holes in the head are recessed quite a bit. A bought some adaptors for my compression gage so I could safely seal up the hole and not plunge to deep into the cylinder with the adaptors. I pulled all plugs on Wed night and took a compression test. All were fairly low, with 5 and 6 holes dead, at 0 psi. I proceeded to pull the head, and what you see above is what I found. a bent valve on #5. Also #6 valves are coated pretty good with carbon and not sealing great either. In fact all the valves need dressing up. Which I believe is why I measured low compression readings. The car did not burn any oil that was visible. I racked my brain further to figure out what caused a bent valve. After pulling the head, I removed all the built up carbon with a brass wire wheel in a drill. I found slight bruises in the combustion chamber of the head/ Something went into the cylinder and took a merry go round ride. The cylinder walls are fine. no scoring. I am lucky there. I can only assume what happened. I suspect the previous owner dropped a small nut or washer and could not find it. It landed right down in the dish beside a spark plug. It sat there for some time. Until I changed he plus. Leaning over the fenders to pull plugs, I did not see it on the back side of a plug. I proceed to pull the plug, and it drops in, unknown to me. It sits on the intake valve, which is directly under the plug hole. As soon as I attempted to fire up the engine, contact is made as the valve rises to open. The small fastener gets bounced around a few times and the bruises the combustion chamber. I have ordered parts to replace all valves at #5 and #6. I will pull all valves, de-carbon them, and deck area of block. I hope to lap in the new valves and re-seal all the others. The parts won't be here for about another week. Today, I will proceed to hopefully pull all valves and start cleaning. I have not found the culprit fastener yet that went through the spark plug hole. I am hoping to find it in a manifold today. I heard someone in another form, mention that the water distribution tube may also be suspect. If you look, you'll see #5 and #6 valve are carbon'd up more than any other cylinder. If they are not getting the cooling, this may be a contributing factor. I suspect 5 and 6 were in need of service, then this valve collision happened and was the final nail in the coffin. Here you can see the build up on 5 & 6 valves. That light scuff mark in#5 cylinder is of concern. It appears to be up into the top ridge area. I am not sure what would cause that. It does not feel excessive. The walls are still smooth to the hand. The top ridge does not appear excessive. Hoping I can patch it, and run as is for a while. Oil pressure is good. No smoke.

Here's how it looks under the hood tonight. The engine could use a full rebuild soon. I am hoping to nurse it along until this winter, when I'll pull it and get to work.

Hi folks, New member today from Western Canada. I just found this site. It looks pretty active. I am happy to contribute to this group. I own a 1953 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe. Flat head 6. Fluid torque drive. It's new to me, I bought it about a month ago. Still learning about the car. I am very happy to have found another resource here. Looking forward to getting to know you a little. Here is the car. The car is down for a week or two. Waiting for parts to arrive for some valve work. I am pretty comfortable working on cars/motorcycles/boats etc. However this old car is new to me. I have learned a ton already. I enjoy working on it. It is as fun and rewarding to work on for me, as it is to drive. - Keith