General23cmp

Thanks. I’m hoping a good run will help it. I had a stuck valve that wouldn’t budge. So the head had to come off before running it any period of time.

I didn’t have a machine shop verify flatness, but I have a calibrated bar that is used for that. All seemed good on flatness with a feeler gauge. Good point on retorque as it’s now been through a couple of heat cycles. I planned to do it after the last run when it cools. One thing I’m going to look into is whether coolant may have got into the intake when the head gasket failed/replaced through open valves (I drained the block, but due to clogs, it didn’t drain well) and made a small mess. Considering the smoke smells like coolant and I have only put straight water in the engine after flushing the engine and radiator (just for testing purposes), it could be leftover coolant prior to the repair that needs to evaporate out or be cleaned up. I’m going to remove carb and see if it’s wet inside manifold, too. I’ve been afraid to run it too long.

Trying to get an old 230 running, and I believe I have coolant vapor from my exhaust. Hoping/assuming a head gasket, I went ahead and swapped that. I feel good that it was done correctly (clean, flat, even torque, etc). Compression is also decent and even, but not like a fresh build would be…good enough. After it runs about 30 seconds, it starts bellowing smoke. Smells like coolant to me. The oil looks clean, and the coolant looks clean. My best guess is a crack in the block, but just enough to get in the cylinder and out the exhaust and not enough to mix with the oil. I haven’t had to add any coolant yet, but haven’t ran it a ton. My only other guess is that it might be burning residual coolant that was in the exhaust prior to my repair. If so, it would eventually go away. I haven’t been running it for long periods as it fills the shop with vapor. What are some common areas I can check before going in very deep? Suggestions? I have no doubt this was why the truck was parked. Engine sounds and seems to run well. I flushed the block and radiator to give it a good shot on cooling well. All exhaust pipes seem to be getting as warm as I’d expect them to, and the outer two are similar and the inner two are similar (I believe I have fire in them all).

I 100% had compression on all 6 before starting. Now 0 on #1. It was a lot of white smoke, too, which happened when it lost compression. I checked for stuck valves, and think they are ok. I can feel them both going up and down with a small crooked tool in the spark plug hole. It wouldn’t smoke like this with an open valve, too. I’m guessing my head gasket near the filler neck on #1 finally gave up since #2 measures good. I was just checking what I can before taking the head off to make sure there wasn’t a cooling flow issue which may be why it was parked. It didn’t run long enough for me to get hot as it started smoking very early. There’s no way I can let it just continue to run like it is right now.

New truck to me, but old and rough. Engine ran fine with good compression after I got the points and fuel squared away…for about a minute. Started the dreaded white smoke. Piston 1 at front lost compression somehow, so head will be coming off. I’m doing other checks to see if there was an underlying issue that caused it. Oil and coolant look clean. I’ve probably had 30-40 old vehicles, so I’m not new to all this. This is my first flathead, so I was just trying to make sure how the coolant flows when I noticed the restriction at the rear. It didn’t seem right.

Oh I agree that flushing is best when I go to clean. I was just doing a quick test if it was restricted or not. If air pressure cannot pass, my garden hose water definitely wont.

Thanks. I must have a decent clog. I opened radiator and tried to push low air pressure in the rear of the block and it wouldn’t do anything except pop the air hose off.

I was simply asking which direction water should flow through the core as I didn’t believe my pump was moving anything. The thought was I could disconnect the feed to the core, and as long as the water pump had water and no air, I should see flow into a container. I can keep the radiator full. I’m not getting any water out of the rear of the block when the engine is turning and the radiator is full.

My initials are CMP. I’m not in that program.

I understand, but thank you. I was questioning if my water pump was working correctly, so I thought I might be able to see something out of that rear hose if I turned the motor over (just to see if it was restricted or not working). Nothing came out from the engine side of the hose. The core had some in it. I haven’t disconnected anything at the water pump. The radiator is also full.

Thanks. I think you misunderstood my blowing air question. I disconnected the hose at the core and tried to blow through the hose and into the rear of the engine block. I couldn’t. The valve wouldn’t be playing into it.

I believe the supply to the heater core on my flathead comes from the rear of the block (correct?). If I remove that hose at the heater core connection, should it pump out coolant if I rotate the engine with the starter from the water pump? The other line flows freely when removed, which I assume is just draining the radiator. I’m not getting anything from the hose attached to the rear of the engine when spinning with starter (ignition off). Should I? If I blow through that hose, should I be able to? It seems airtight. I’m trying to make sure my water pump and rest of cooling system is performing correctly. Also, does coolant have to flow through the rear hose and back out the core (through a bypass if not running the heater) in order for the engine to circulate coolant through itself?

Yes, I saw it. Thanks. That’s why my first post had that last sentence. It didn’t seem to get firm resolution.

You mention it being right for the year. Was there a New Process 420 in 1940? I’m having trouble finding a rebuild kit that states anything that old in the year range. Would it have another name/model called out?

Thanks. This is great. I always thought “new process” started in the 1950s.