Matt Wilson

Oh, yes, I intend to do a partial disassembly of the engine. I did not mean to imply that I would not do so. And I will have to disassemble enough of it to clean out the metal shavings.

The valve guide replacement should be no problem to perform with the engine in the truck. And I have been confident up to this point that I can remove enough body sheet metal, radiator and other surrounding parts to allow me to remove the camshaft and lifters, but now thinking about it some more, I'm not sure if I would be able to remove the timing cover and camshaft with the engine still in the truck. I can almost swear that I had done it one time before, many years ago, but I will have to look more closely to see if I still think that could be done.

Meanwhile, does anyone have any leads on a tappet bore reamer for this engine? I've been doing quite a bit of looking around on the web, as well as calling local tool suppliers, but so far I've no luck.

Thanks for the replies, Greg and Rusty.

I was just reminded by someone else that the oil pressure would have nothing to do with the tappet bores, since they are not pressure fed in this engine. I should have thought of that....

Anyway, the machine shop I used came highly recommended by a co-worker who was known for having very high standards, so I am more and more disappointed the more I find wrong with this engine. Fortunately, I checked all of the other dimensions and clearances in this engine myself, just not the valve guide condition, since they were supposed to be new. I did even check the lifter-to-bore clearances, but at the time, I don't think I was able to find oversize lifters. Now Vintage Power Wagons says they have them.

Everything I've read on forums says the valve guides are easy to replace, and there apparently was a hand reamer available to open up the bores to the next size, so I was hoping to be able to do this stuff myself. I really don't want to have to remove the engine to get these things done. I just don't know if I can find the right reamer.

Hi folks,

I've got a 1949 Dodge Power Wagon with a 230 flathead engine. I rebuilt the engine several years ago, but have not driven it more than 7,000 - 8,000 miles since then and in fact, it has been sitting for over 4 years, unused due to other priorities in life.

I am now working to get it back up and running, and as part of that, I removed the head and manifolds. While in there, I discovered that the valve guides are very worn, and I will be replacing those. Back when I rebuilt the engine, the machinist was supposed to replace the guides, but apparently did not, and I apparently did not check them at the time.

Also, while I am in there, I checked the lifter (tappet) bore clearances using a dial indicator, and found that most are between 0.0025" - 0.004". This is way beyond the 0.0000 - 0.001" called for in my manual, even surpassing the wear limit of 0.0015".

So....questions:

1) Since I am halfway there, should I go ahead and replace the tappets with oversized ones? Vintage Power Wagons says they have 0.008" oversize tappets. I know one side effect of loose tappets is low oil pressure, but the oil pressure seems to be pretty decent, even with these loose tappets in place. As best I recall from over 4 years ago, it's usually over 25 psi, even when the engine is warm and idling, and it gets up to 45 psi at higher rpm. However, I am concerned that the tappets and bores won't last as long as they should with these clearances, and over time, as the crank and cam bearings wear, the oil pressure will drop sooner than it should.

2) If I replace the tappets, I will need to ream out the current bores. My engine manual calls for the use of a reamer (probably stepped or piloted reamer) to enlarge the bores, but I don't know where to find one of these of the correct size these days. It was probably a pretty specialized tool that has long since become unavailable, I would imagine. Does anyone have any leads on these? Or any other method for getting the proper size bore to fit the oversize tappets? Other than removing the engine and taking it to a machine shop....

On a related note, the engine has a high-performance camshaft and springs that I purchased from Vintage Power Wagons some 10 years ago. All they can tell me is that it provides "more lift and longer duration" and they said it is "something like a 3/4 or RV cam" which I thought were totally different types of camshafts. The springs they sent to me are longer to provide increase spring force. Bottom line is that I think all of this would place more demand on the tappets and their bores.

I would appreciate any comments and especially a lead on an appropriate reamer.

Thanks!