Los_Control

I would not worry about testing the radiator while trying to unstick a engine. If the cylinders are in good condition then is possible you have a bad rod or main bearing that is seized. Just saying, try to put a breaker bar on the crank and see if it will turn. I also would put some oil in the cylinders 50/50 atf/acetone or marvel mystery oil & let it soak for a few days before trying to turn it. If it moves thats awesome. You still want to get oil on those rings to free them up. My current engine was free & soaked it for 2 weeks before starting it. Cost nothing to pull the head, you can see exactly what you are working with. There is no valves, lifters push rods to deal with. The valves will be gummed up with old engine oil in the valve guides. So when you turn the engine over, they stay open. Oil them up and smack em down with a rubber mallet. Just work them back and forth and will free up. My first engine sat for maybe 30 years. Had 7 stuck valves and zero compression. These are tough engines and take a lot of abuse, they do not like high rpm and will eat up bearings. I think 3600 rpm is suggested max. I had a 52 suburban that Grandpa hot rodded and spun a bearing and parked since 1962. If you have no history on the engine, & is stuck. A head gasket is cheap and available. Spend a hour pulling the head and find out if you have a boat anchor or something to work with. They are a great engine, they were made for decades with very few changes. You will not regret bringing it back to life. They respond well to tlc

@Plymouthy Adams My only issue is to talk about some serious issues & talking about the current issues @Sam Buchanan seriously, if you can use that engine and idle it down. There is no reason to idle it lower. But if you are on a page it really does not matter what you do not master. I have to laugh at what is shown.

I honestly think it is a non issue. I also think this motor was made for 40 or 50 years? Can you imagine this engine in the Are we talking about engines built in this time period? I am saying to not start a **** show on why your car not perform ... Just fix it!.

Can we all imagine that my briggs & stoner motor does not accelerate as fast as I want it to? @Sam Buchanan send me a address & I will send you a fruit cake at Christmas time. We all love you. What you are talking about is a tuning issue that possibly can only be fixed from a person in presence. I am the total idiot that thinks @Sam Buchanancan learn & fix the issue, then share it with others. Either way you have a fruitcake coming.

We all love puzzles. Fact is, these engines are very simple ... Like a lawn mower engine. Just not to much to them. While we are all rooting for you and hoping you figure it out .... Really is a lawn mower engine with a few extra cylinders. Just saying do not get upset at us for offering advice to fix your 6cyl flathead lawnmower ... There is only so many options to fix it. That is your problem to fix, we only have suggestions. .... Yes it really is a simple flathead & basic carb issues to fix ... is a learning curve.

My 2 cents, if adding a little choke helps. Seems like it is getting extra air from somewhere ... All the choke is doing is blocking the air volume introduced into the engine. Naturally you would want to adjust the air intake with carb adjustments & not the choke. You just need to find where the extra air is getting into the fuel system. Of course it works pretty good most of the time, not going to be easy to duplicate and reproduce in the driveway. I am sure others have already suggested some carb cleaner spray around the throttle shaft, base of carb ... all ports of air entry ... and the intake manifold. Possible the intake gasket is leaking & sucking air?

To be honest, I read the thread title a few days ago when appeared. Thought to myself, there are many here that are 10 times smarter then me to help on this problem. I never read the actual thread. When I saw @martybose post I just thought would add a little to it. Why you need a working accel pump, & takes 2 seconds to check & see if yours is working. Growing up with carburetors we are just use to them .... may have been @keithb7recent video that inspired my response

In a perfect world, you should see a generous stream looking into the throat and working the throttle. Should be easy enough to see if it is working. The main purpose of the accelerator pump .... when you are driving and step on the gas, you open the throttle plate and instantly get more air volume. The accelerator pump just gives you a xtra squirt of fuel to compensate for the sudden burst of air. Then the main jets take over. A very over simplified explanation. If the accelerator pump is not working properly, when you step on the gas you get more air and a lean fuel mixture until your main jet catches up. Otherwise explained as a hesitation.

I have been taking advantage of the cool spring weather & building my "garden center" Just amazing how The price of building material went up, while same time the availability went down. I went 30 miles yesterday to purchase the material for phase 2 of my garden center. Just crazy they did not have the 6 4x4 post I needed. My local Ace yard been out for 2 months. @Plymouthy Adams Glad you built your building when you did ... today would be almost double price on material. So I get all snug, I am going to work on my truck ... Ace hardware got got a delivery & now I am back to building the garden center. I have a load of lumber to unload & paint. I am going to work hard, just feel my efforts not going to where I would prefer

Sigh ... if only had paint to strip ?

Guess what time of year it is Still a month away, time to get ready! Last year I installed the water pump, maybe this year I will install the radiator and check my work for leaks I just had to check and see when the day was, I really need one soon. Playing adult is getting old

And my point is ... I do not know. From the past I know moving the wires around was a get me by. Putting the dizzy in 1 tooth off, they started and ran ... but never good. But that was with a Datsun & a international ... Now we are talking flathead 6. Mine seems to run fine, I never put a timing light on it. I honestly do not know if it matters. The Datsun my wife was driving back & forth to work, after I got home from work I would work on it .... I wasted hours of my life fixing it. The international truck was the same., might have taken this old carpenter 2 hours to figure out the issue and then reset the dizzy. Again hours of my life wasted. The first start on my 1949 Dodge was over a week. Because of the #1 plug location. It really was a ordeal. I had to order new plug wires. I rebuilt the carb ... then ordered a new one and oiled down the rebuilt & put on shelf. I replaced the plugs, cleaned the points. Dang plug wires went to Dallas TX & sat there for 6 days ... finally they moved & delivered. Then because I followed the #7 position on #1 tdc. I wasted 3 or 4 more days of my life figuring out the oil pump/distributor issue. Once I moved the wires it runs fine. This was the first start in 20 plus years I had no idea what to expect. I ended up removing the pipe plug on #6 to check for tdc on 1. Was full of carbon and used a 16 penny nail to clear it. That was really stupid I did start it up with the wife watching, the carbon bounced around in the cylinder then got caught in the exhaust valve & eventually blew out. My wife said my truck sounded sick ...no idea if I damaged the valve or seat ....DO NOT PUNCH OUT THE CARBON! Pull the head & clean it. I think I got lucky, time will tell. I am just saying, life is a adventure. Do not waste your hours trouble shooting ignition issues when you know it is not set to factory specs. I assume the engineers are smarter then me and knew what they wanted.

I Dont need no stinking manual

The issue is the oil pump and not the distributor. We are told to put the engine on tdc before removing the oil pump. When you do this on a un-molested motor, #1 is at 7:00 position. When you look up on the internet #1 is at the 7:00 O'clock position .... we all know it is true if on the internet. I agree with @chrysler1941 it is not in the manual that on the 6 cyl engine it is 7:00 o'clock position ... while for the V8's they do specify location for #1 on cap. Possibly the writers of the manual, I am using 1958 21rst edition Motors manual ... not mopar. They just assume you have your oil pump installed according to instructions? Just saying, you install the dizzy according to the oil pump. The oil pump installation is where the timing part comes into play. Would be redundant to repeat it in dizzy install? You do it by the manual and it will be at 7:00 ... Does it matter? I do not know. I know on a gear driven dizzy, timing may only be a few degree off but on a 4cyl & a V8 it matters. I figure life as hours we use to go on our journey. I would assume thinking & discussing oil pump installation for proper dizzy install is time used I can never get back. I can set the timing at 2, 4, 6 degree ... whatever ....but is it really right if I did not set the oil pump correctly in the first place? Could be 3, 5 or 7 degree? Just saying in the future you may find a stumble, or a miss & troubleshoot a issue & you be thinking, wheeel I did not set the oil pump like it should be ... just more wasted precious time of life .... just fix it!

I agree it works. I have had other cars like a old 1971 Datsoon, dizzy was a tooth off and compensated by moving the wires, I really could tell the difference in tune after correcting distributor. Ran much smoother with more power. I bought a junkyard motor & installed it, just never could get it tuned right til I corrected the distributor and moved the wires as it should be. But this is a geared distributor & different from our old flat 6 distributor. But the oil pump is geared, & a tooth off the rotor may not be hitting the plug wire at the most optimal time? My truck seems to run pretty good as is and does not care. I tuned up a 1967 international for my Uncle, he inherited it from his brother. Same problem, tooth off on the dizzy and moved the wires ... I did not know this going into the job. I just ripped out all the wires, points condenser & replaced. That cost me some time to troubleshoot the issue and re-install the dizzy ... I was told it ran better then it ever did afterwards. I have no history with how it ran before. It was a rebuilt engine from Napa. You would think I am old enough to learn from my mistakes. When I tuned up my 49 dodge, ripped out the wires and installed new with #1 at 7:00 ... Wrong! Again it cost me time, but I learned from reading how the system works. So I would not call it a waste of time. My experience with past vehicles, we can adjust the wires, then play with the timing & get it to run. I feel it is better to just correct the issue and make it right. Yes these flatheads seem to be more forgiving in this area, I will sleep better at nights when I do correct it. That will be in the future when I am working on the motor. As is it works fine.

Issue is, you need to follow the book to install the oil pump. You need to put the engine on tdc, then insert the pump, then time the engine . Thing is, If others have messed with the engine & not follow the book, the timing or #1 @ # 7 position may be wrong. You really need to pull #1 up and check timing .... The distributor is ran off the oil pump. The oil pump needs to be install correctly to have the .... just saying, my oil pump was installed wrong. My #1 is at 6:0clock position. Maybe some day I will fix it. ... seems to run fine as is. Just saying it is not written in stone that # 1 is at 7:00 position .... mine is at 6:00 until I change it.

Excuse me for being a old carpenter & not a mechanic, & lazy for not going back and read previous post. My 2 cents. A knock is not good. At idle & goes away, kinda makes me wonder if it is wrist pin issues? A engine gasket set cost about $100 a few years ago, with today's inflation may be more now. If it was a wrist pin, it will be digging into the cylinder wall and leaving scars. Will be obvious the issue with the head removed. Your oil pressure sounds good which makes you think your bearings are good. If you got piston slap because of worn wrist pins. When is it too late? Can you just slap a old used piston in there to replace the bad one? These old girls learned some tricks along the years .... Will cost you $100 to peek inside , may cost you more if you do not peek.

I am trying to create a garden space from a blank canvas. Kinda crazy, city lot, house built in 1948. No real landscaping plan ever. We all got to start somewhere. I feel like my house/property is a survivor ... like buying a 1950 Dodge that was maintained and never messed with. Now it is up to me to make it mine. Bought the house about 4 years ago, first year just get by, 2nd year major plumbing replacement, 3rd year I put in the first garden boxes.... This year am going for the garden shed, creating the garden area allowing for expansion.

I am just laughing at myself this year. Pretty sure whatever I manage to grow this year will be bird food. I have had gardens in the past, takes time to cultivate them & build them up. I planted some things 2 weeks ago, still kinda cool weather in the mornings ... left over seeds from last year, really not doing great. Couple tomato plants doing well. Tomorrow I need to go to town and do the walmart shopping, then stop by the lumber store & tractor supply ... all day event They all sell plants See what we end up with tomorrow. My main goal this year is to get the "garden center" built. I have the post in for the 8' x 16' fenced area. Tomorrow pickup the lumber for the attached 8' x 16' covered area. A 16' x 16' area total to organize all the crap I do not want in my garage. Where I moved the boxes this year, much better sunlight first thing in the morning to mid afternoon. I will trim the tree as I need for light to the garden. A little shade at 4:00 pm may not be bad when it is 100+ temps out. I will run water & power to the shed, I will run a 3' wire fence off of it & enclose the garden which allows me to run a bird netting overhead. Enclose a area and not a single garden bed. I can have a combo of in ground & raised beds, irrigation on a timer ... I can be lazy. This year is kinda just playing carpenter to get where the gardener wants to be. Yes I have a junk riding mower to hide. A friend had it & gave it to me. Said it ran really well but did not cut worth a crap. Been sitting a couple years and need to go through it to get it started .... When I loaded it up I looked, the blades are just as sharp as new & installed upside down. Just no time to work on it yet. A guy just needs a place to hide all the manure, fertilizer different soils flathead engines/transmissions. This year my garden will not be great, sure looking forward to next year

I agree with everything you say there .... Back when these American cars or trucks were being used as daily driver they were so over built that wheel torque was a non issue. While in the early days the 30's - 60's the Jaguar, Mercedes, Porsche, There is many others but they built things one way. They won many races because of their design. Here in USA, we overbuilt everything. We made sure a brake drum would not warp from being tight, it would last longer then expected useful life. It could be turned and re-used. Same thing with every aspect of the car. Heavy & overbuilt. ..... A modern car is way safer then a old 50's car. Again my point is, on a older 50's American vehicle I would not be concerned about wheel torque. I would be interested more in the pinion bearing, the axle bearings .... A lot bigger fish to fry then the wheels. For over 40 years we have been told about wheel torque ... it just never applied at the time to cars born on this side of the pond. I have to agree

I see true torque specs as very important for critical components ... Heads, internal engine parts rods,crank etc... Born in the 60's, working in the industry in the 70's. Wheel torque was never discussed ... I think it was the 80's before wheel torque was discussed in my memory ... ? It was the mid to late 70's after the gas shortage that people started buying import cars, then by the 80's realized the cheaper thinner brake rotors would warp if not torque properly. Then proper wheel torque became a major topic .... shops had to start replacing rotors if they over torque a wheel & warp it. 100# torque sounds just about max for a rattle gun in good condition. I do not think it is to high, except if you are on the side of the road changing a flat with no cheater bar. 100# would not damage your wheels or your drums if in good condition .... most rattle guns have a zillion miles on them and only reach 80# before replaced. Into the 1990's, the tire shop we used a 1" impact gun with a 3/4" air hose just for it. For semi trucks. Get them girls on tight! There was no discussion on proper wheel torque for a 1990 peterbuilt. My only point is, any vehicle built in the 50's maybe 60's & earlier, the wheel torque was "TIGHT" Was the cheaper off shore parts from the 70's + that we started thinking about wheel torque. That applies to American cars, the British & other offshore cars were not common at the time and follow there own rules <--- @Plymouthy Adams

Oh Lord, I am feeling the itch .... I just hope I can drive my wife to the grocery store with no voodoo hex. I drove it again today, no issues. Not sure what I would do if I saw monkeys .... Suspect I would be looking up @MackTheFinger address

Mother inlaw wanted a caravan, Father said he chose this one for 2 reasons, 1, paint issue been fixed, 2, has the 3.3 that he claims is a better engine ... I honestly do not know the difference. Of course the transmission was bad & bought it cheap. Years ago I bought my wife a 1988 caravan with the 4cyl engine. The van just turned out to be a nightmare. Never had the power it needed, but did ok. When it ran decent. Example: we made a 200 mile trip, she driving the van, I was following her with my 1 ton flatbed. She went to pass a slow moving semi, I follow her and cars following me. She gets 1/2 way and the van starts doing the dance and cuts out ... end up slowing down to 40mph & pull back in behind the semi. Kinda dangerous. I spent a lot of money taking it to shops to be tuned and correct the issue for months. That was the final straw, I parked it in the backyard for 8 months. One day I wanted to try again, I was wondering if maybe it had some water in the gas. I put a $1 can of heet in it and a fresh tank of gas ... never had the problem again. By then I had bought the wife a toyota suv, "I am not going to drive that pos van" We sold it cheap to someone who needed it worse then us. Yeah the older vans had issues, The 1993 model they are comfortable, convenient, plenty of power with the 3.3, the 4spd od trans is awesome when it works. If I was still working, I would not waste anytime on this old van. Just replace it. .... Since I have more time and less money, seems to be more of a challenge then anything. I just have to be careful on where to draw the line.

I guess thats where I am at. If I can actually fix the issue, may be able to turn this 27 year old car into a survivor. Otherwise better people then me have sent them to the scrap pile. I really enjoy driving it because of the amount of crap I can shove in it, the dogs like riding in it, the ac works great ... just the electrics of the transmission that is creating a issue.

I thought would share a photo of it ... was a freak ice storm in Texas a few years ago. While we were house shopping was held up in a motel for a week because of the storm. Not perfect, just old ... I am not ashamed to drive it.