Lumpy

Now the plot is so think, I can hardly move. Pulling/replacing the head is so easy, if there is no other damage, why not de-carbon the head, polish it up, and see what happens. ?? Seems like whatever is going on, is going on the combustion chamber(s), be it fuel, hot spots...?? And the exhaust valves looked good? Seems I've seen a lot of burnt and cracked ones in flatheads. You may be better at reading damaged plugs than I. I do know that usually, when parts of a plug go "away", it's from detonation. ?? ken.

There's the old heart of Lumpy. Chrysler Marine, B&B carbs off of little slant-sixes, and a bit of a shave off the head. Wow, must have cost 40Phil a fortune to chrome that engine. k.

A destroyed spark plug is exactly what detonation will do, and it will destroy a piston in short order. The spark plug did not fail, the detonation/ping destroyed it. That's a sure sign that the engine has been "allowed" to detonate. No offense. I still believe that your engine just reached a point of too much carbon on the head, for what it's worth. Never let an engine ping, ever, at all. If it won't drive without pinging, don't drive it. De-carbon the head AT LEAST every 10,000 miles. ken.

I think Dad and Granddad were exceptions to the rule. Let sleeping dogs sleep. k.

If you know anyone at your local High School, or know who the shop teacher is, or can contact them and they have a good shop, you might get one built that way. Some of the shop kids are pretty good, and can use it as a "project" to get graded on. k.

True, Washington is a two-plate state, but for antique, "horseless carriage" and vintage cars, they only require one plate. In Washington, law enforcement isn't worried about guys like us in our dinosaurs tearing up the streets, robbing banks, or making babies cry, and I notice that they rarely look twice at, much less pull over, classic cars. Muscle cars, yes, full out hot rods, sure, but they just smile and wave when Lumpy cars go by. I could probably have a five year old make a plate for me out of cardboard and crayons, and never get pulled over. Wish I had me a real 48 plate though. One of these days. ken.

Using antique flathead motorcycle engines again as maybe not so great as an example, (?) it has been found that the addition of MMO in the gas does lower cylinder temps. But those are air cooled engines, which run really hot, so it might not be true with water cooled flathead engines. With flathead motorcycles, there has been much research, testing, testing, experimenting, racing, and more testing done, from the 1920's up to now...there is really a lot of solid knowledge in the field. With such engines, it is very accepted that there is a benefit to using MMO in the fuel. Again, with a low stressed water cooled engine, maybe not. I've always run some MMO in Lumpy and my motorcycles, both antique and modern, and I can say that my carburetors remain trouble free for ridiculously long periods of time. At the least, it's never harmed anything, but I understand the opinion that it may just be snake oil, or perhaps a psychological thing. Even so, it still works for me. I was always under the understanding that if the engine does not actually ping on a lower grade of gas, then a higher octane serves no purpose. ?? (other than to make your wallet lighter) ken.

I think you are good to go, and I personally would not attempt to dig up any names from the past connected to the car. Good luck. ken.

How about a manual choke? That would fix it. ken.

How an agency interprets the regs or code can be "interesting" to say the least. I just went through licnensing a 1937 motorcycle, which the inspecting agency insists is a 2013, "homemade" vehicle. But when you read the code/regs, it clearly states that such a vehicle is an "assembled" vehicle, which could have been licensed as a 1937. The problem? A 2013 has to meet all current vehicle codes. The other problem is that you can't argue with the agency (in my case it being the State Patrol) no matter if you are right. (unless you want to blow any chance of getting a license plate on it) So, something to look out for. On the other hand, it's not likely anyone connected with the car remembers it, or wants to spend the time and money to claim it. Maybe if it used to belong to Elvis, or was perfectly restored and worth $50,000. As long as the VIN inspection doesn't turn it up as a stolen vehicle you should be good to go. Up until recently, stolen vehicles used to drop off the hot sheets after seven years, so many stolen older cars and motorcycles don't/won't show any records. If a title/VIN search in the state it was last licensed in shows no records, it should be fairly easy to get it licensed as an abandoned vehicle, or something like that. I would not contact anyone unless a title search, or VIN inspection turns up their names, which it looks like it did not. It's certainly unlikely that they would have any proof of ownership...you could just as well pay Joe Blow to sign a notorized bill of sale in that case. ?? k.

Assuming it has new plugs and wires? Might want to check the gap on the plugs. If you have the plugs out anyway...why not check the compression? And that might lead one to re-check the valve adjustments. ?? Then you have eliminated all those unlikely, but possible possibilities. Then start looking at the balencer. Having a balance (or is it balence?) problem can really be a pain...I chased a vibration around on my '72 Dart for years, never did find it. Then I took the 318 out and put in a 360, and that fixed it. But on the 318, I changed dampers, alternators, drivelines, trans tail shaft, you name it, never could get it. And on the 360, I used the same driveline, converter, etc., only difference was the flex plate. It wasn't real bad, just annoying. Hopefully you don't have anything actually out of balance. Does kind of sound like one of the cylinders is not firing strong for some reason, and or, as mentioned, sometimes crossed plug wires won't be real obvious, the engine will run almost normal, but not. ken.

The fact that you have been driving it for 13 years up and down and around and around, kind of reinforces the idea that you have reached your carbon-up limit. Now Don's idea is not bad, but I think a better idea would be to pull your head off (the one on the engine) and really properly de-carbon it. It's extremely easy to do on a flathead six, no excuse not to. Too much carbon is not so odd. Again, a flathead motorcycle will have the heads off to do that once a year, or so many miles, which ever comes first. A flathead six is not that different. ken.

I guess it would depend on how much you trust the driver...that would be a LOT of trust. k.

That is true, may be time to de-carbon the head. On motorcycles of the same era as our cars, it was common practice, and factory advise to pull and de-carbon the heads at pretty short mileage intervals, like 3000-5000 miles. k.

If the engine begins to ping, don't let it continue. It will cause some serious damage. Like punching holes in the tops of the pistons, minor things like that. Hopefully I've misunderstood, but it sounds like you kept driving/going up the hill with the engine pinging? Tell me I'm wrong!!! Might not hurt to turn the timing back a bit, but I understand that it's not the primary reason...you just don't want to let it keep pinging, slow down, shift down, go slow, whatever it takes so the engine does not continue to ping. Is the carb possibly running too lean to begin with, and the other things aggrivate the problem? Fuel lines not too close to the head, block, exhaust manifold, etc? Just some thoughts. ken

At the moment I don't detect any negative change in steering or tracking. It "feels" better, but not really "different". I will be watching the front tires very closely for any irregular wear. I suspect caster or camber has changed, but I know that the old cars were set up with a little more of one or the other, than modern cars, and you can often improve handling/steering by changing that a bit, not going by the exact stock specs. (if you know what you are doing) (I don't) Don't quote me, and I'm too busy at the moment to look it up, but I think it's camber that you can reduce from stock, and get better tracking. Or not. ken.

Probably a good thing to live by....although...when it comes to flatheads, doesn't really disturb much to pull the head. From the looks of everything else I'd agree that there's no reason to. k.

Now I forget, but how does it go when you jump start a negative ground car with a positive ground car...or visa versa? I used to know that. It's still positive to positive, negative to negative, right? Or...visa-versa? I never checked that CB, figured it was toast. ken.

Wasn't there a way to make it a five-on-the-tree? I've changed my filter once...I don't think they pick up near as much sludge and grit as they used to. Also, in the 1940's early 50's there was much more dirt road..."dusty conditions", so they probably got diryt/clogged up a bit sooner. k.

I swapped a motor and tranny into a IHC pickup I had once, and did not have a shifter for the trans, so we just ran three levers up through the floor, one for reverse, one for 1-2, and one for 3rd, or something like that. To shift you would just have to put the 1-2 lever back in netraul, (sp?) then use the 3rd gear lever to shift in third, or have the two forward gear levers in netraul to shift into reverse...know what I mean? It worked fine, but sure confused people that did not understand it. I'm building a large 360 Mopar powered stationary generator at the moment, which has a 4-speed on it, and will shift it the same way. When it's done it will run the whole house and pump house as normal, and I plan to set it up to run on gas, propane, or alcohol. Initially it will just be gas powered. ken.

I did not realize that one could have that much control when driving on two wheels. Wonder what tire pressure they are running, and how long the sidewalls last when doing that! I noticed the doors also, but I think it is the same as you see on some trucks, with just slightly extended cabs, had a friend who had a Ford Ranger pick up, and the doors worked like that. You can see the rear door has no handle. At any rate, yeah, they say the desert can drive you crazy. As to landing on the sun at night, how are they going to see where they are going? Sounds dangerous to me, they'll need some good bright landing lights. ken.

Good score, looks like a low mileage rebuild. Have you taken the head off and checked for a ridge? ken.

Seems like a simple matter to do that, if one desired. On radios, I once connected a CB up backwards, not a tube radio, and that thing fried it's self, made big smoke. Not so with a tube radio? ken.

I'm surprised that you needed a spring compressor, my stock, full length springs came right out. Did you drop the lower A-arm with the four bolts, which are inboard, or did you leave that connected and just separate it at the spindle, and outboard of the A-arms? I did mine just doing the four bolts, and then letting the lower A-arm swing down, and out. I think the extra effort you are putting will be well worth it. k.

That's okay, many of those factoids I can't remember, so I just kind of wing it. My Harley knowledge is more in the '36 to '48 range! I'll move that up to the front of the memory bank. ken.