Rumble1960

yup that's a good feeling alright, do the core plugs if the motor is out, you will glad you did!

mines bigger than yours, took two cuts with a hack saw to get it out. Has something to do with the casting process, must be a lot of blocks around with these still in, glad mine is out.

Thanks Greg everything is marked, I'd just thought I'd double check what I can to make sure it was marked correctly, I know for sure now the motor has been apart before and I've become a little suspicious of the previous work because of a couple things I've found. Now that I've went through with expense of machine shop work I'm trying to be as cautious as possible.

Make sure your new gauge is reading correct, I chased an overheating problem on my flathead for days that didn't exist. Gauge said it was hot but it never boiled over, finally checked it with a infrared point and read temperature gun and the motor was at 160 deg the gauge was the problem.

Jim thanks great article and all the googling I have done it never came up, Tim not sure I follow where you get 1-2-3-4 out of those numbers.

here are the numbers as close as I can make them out 617935-24, 617935-25

I'm in the process of rebuilding my engine, what was suppose to be a quick refreshing has turned into a complete rebuild and I'm trying to to the best I can with the budget I have at hand. It seems like I keep running into questions the service manual can't answer, and now I have come to find out not to trust anything as far as being correct with the motor from a previous rebuild. I hope that people here that have been involved with the flathead over the years will be willing to help me out. I'm now at the point of putting the crank back in, I marked the mains prior to being disassembled but do not trust they were in the right location on the block. Of course the front and rear main cap location is obvious but the center 2 will fit in either position, I read here somewhere that they are numbered and identified to there perspective location, I have checked them over very closely and cannot find anything but what looks like a part number on them, is there any other way to make sure that they are in the right location?

thank you just wanted to be sure.

I was just installing a set of Perfect Circle piston rings on new pistons, the instructions with the rings say to put the 3 piece oil control ring on the 3rd groove and the one piece on the 4th or bottom groove. I wouldn't question this but the pistons I took out have the oil rings the other way 3 piece on the bottom and the 1 piece on the 3 groove. Any thoughts on which way is correct?

I'm going to build a tool consisting of 2 large 1/4 inch thick aluminum washers slightly bigger than the diameter of the bearings, a threaded rod will be through a middle hole in each, one washer will be on the opposite side of the block's cam bearing mounting hole the other will be up against the bearing being installed. Tightening the nuts on the threaded rod should press the bearing into location. It might or might not work but there is a lot of room to try it so unless anyone see's a reason not too I'll give it a try.

you may want to change your oil too, I believe fuel can find it's way into the oil when the diaphragm leaks. The little hole you seen the fuel coming out is a way to let you know there is a problem.

Mine did the same thing the diaphragm is leaking and needs to be replaced.

Has anyone here installed cam bearings at home without an actual proper cam bearing installer? I thought by fabricating a type of tool that would press the bearing into place I could do it myself, I have already paid for a set of bearings and install by the local machine shop and it didn't end up well, so I'd like to do it myself this time.

Sorry moved...

I just got my block back from the machine shop and happened to find something blocking the block drain. I removed the frost plug near the drain hole and after painstakingly making two cuts this is what I found. Any ideas of what it could be, probably been there since it was built?

thanks I just had a big sigh of relief, I wish the service manual would have explained that a bit more.

I had my block hot tanked and now found out the rear most cam bearing is not replaceable according to the service manual. I guess I should have read it first, it was suggested to me to replace the cam bearings after being hot tanked so I'm replacing the three others but not sure what to do with the one in the back of the block or if I even have to worry about it.

My engine is in the shop right now about to get cam bearings installed can you explain what to watch out for as far as installation goes.

I decided after a thread I posted here to have my block gone over by a machine shop. After having it hot tanked it ended up measuring good for standard bearings on the crank and rod bearings, cam bearings needed to be replaced because of being hot tanked, the cylinders were re bored to .030" over and the head was cleaned checked for cracks and planed .030". Now I'm in the process buying the parts needed for reassembly. Now that I have had to spend more on the motor than planned I've decided to put off a new paint job and do the motor the way I'd like to see it done, which means split headers, dual carbs and as much sparkle as I can find to put on the motor. If any of you guys can post some pictures of your done up Flatties I'd love to see them or where you got the parts to do it would also be great. I've always been more interested in whats under the hood than whats around it so I might as well build accordingly.

Pulled the motor so I could clean everything under the hood up and give it a coat of paint, get rid of the oil leaks, also wanted to check water distribution tube, frost plugs etc. Also the clutch needed to be replaced.

well from what I could tell rear main (clutch was soaked) and some from the valve covers. I had to put a half quart in every 500 miles or so. It didn't smoke and compression was 125 to 130. I'm going to reseal the trans while it's out while I'm at it. I already did the rear end a year ago.

I'm afraid my budget will not permit any machine shop expenses, this motor ran fine and only has about 70,000 miles on it. The reason I took it out in the first place was because of oil leaks. Maybe I'd be better off putting it back together with just a gasket kit and a valve lapping, all the rod bearings are showing no wear, maybe I should plasti gauge the mains to see what kind of clearance they have and go from there.

thank you great help, good point about checking sizes I assumed everything is standard because I have the complete history of this vehicle but checking to make sure is a good idea. The pistons are marked standard, the rod bearings are marked standard but all I can find on the mains is a letter "T" can anyone tell me if these are standard? This is a low mileage motor and was really clean on the inside so I'd be surprised if the mains are not standard but maybe it left the factory with something other than standard. This is it's first tear down as far as I know.

I'm about ready to put an order list together for the parts I need to rebuild my Flathead, I'm concerned with getting the best parts available, I'm also not sure who to get them through. Have you guys found that most parts such as rings, bearings and gaskets are of equal quality or are there some brands I should specifically try to use? Is there a specific vendor that handles the best parts available I can trust with my parts order?

except for those odd spots on the cylinder walls this 49 year old engine is in remarkable condition. The rod bearings look as good as new, this was a one owner vehicle until a couple of years ago and has always been on non detergent oil which is a testament to its ability to protect engine components.