51 Meadowbrook engine rebuild

[Worden18]

Hey fellas, its been a while since I put up a post.  I've had my Meadowbrook for about a year now, she's all original. It sat from 1973 until 2016 with less than 1,000 miles put on it, which didn't do the car any good. Last year I rebuilt the carb, put on a new water pump, had the radiator boiled out, new hoses, thermostat, etc.  I also put on new front brakes and wheel cylinders, greased the wheel bearings and all the zerks I could find, put on new radial tires, and gave it a tuneup.  We were able to drive it all summer and put on over 3,000 miles before the timing chain took a crap.  The engine was a heavy oil burner (at least one piston has stuck or broken rings, and being that the car is 66 years old (and we want to get to and from places reliably) I decided to do an engine rebuild.  Never done one before, but an old timer friend of mine said he'd be more than happy to walk me through it step by step.  A friend of his rebuilds engines for a living, so when we need him to bore the block and mill the head (and whatever else) he's ready.  Otherwise I'm going to be tearing it apart and learning the whole process step by step from my friend.  Last engine I pulled happened to be a 230 flathead out of a '56 flat fender Power Wagon, and that was in 1997.  I will say this, without my friend and his son, my poor old car would become a lawn ornament.  I'm very grateful for their help so far.  We pulled the car out of storage and got it up on my friend's lift and started digging in.  We got the engine out today, the car back in storage, non essentials (i.e. generator, distributor, radiator fan, brackets, etc.) stored in the trunk of the car, and all other nuts, bolts and dirty things bagged and tagged.  Long way to go, but I'm excited to do it.  Here's some pics:

 

 

Edited March 15, 2017 by Worden18

[Worden18]

More pics:

[Worden18]

Another pic:

[Worden18]

One more so you can see a good pic of the actual car 

[knuckleharley]

Good luck to you. Hope you get your car back on the road soon.

[DonaldSmith]

The car has an exquisite patina.  

[50 coupe]

Don't hesitate to post more pics of your rebuild. These are always fun to follow.

[rb1949]

Great you have such wise assistance. The super project will have you back in A-1 shape.

[Worden18]

Made some progress today.  I removed the carb and linkage, the intake and exhaust manifolds, the oil filter canister and lines, the timing chain cover, the head, etc.  We wanted to leave the bell housing on so the guy that is going to bore the block, mill the head, etc. can see how the whole thing comes apart: I don't think he's ever worked on a car/engine that has Fluid Drive, so we know we'll have to use an indicator to line everything back up.  My old timer friend is a big Ford guy, so even he hasn't messed around with Fluid Drive before.

 Anyway, after removing the timing chain cover I was surprised to see that the chain had NOT jumped at all, but of course is very sloppy after all the decades that have passed.  One piston has a chunk out of it from who knows what, and some scarring on top.  We cleaned that piston off so you could see it better.  I really couldn't believe how dirty the inside was, i.e. the top of the pistons (carbon), the valves (looked like they had been underwater for 50 years with barnacles growing on them LOL), etc.  It was a lot of fun today since I have never had an engine apart that far.  I keep visualizing how nice it will be with all new parts!  I'm patient, but am working hard to move it along.  Tomorrow we take the engine to the rebuilder's shop in my 74 Dodge truck.  Pics to follow:

[Worden18]

[Worden18]

[Worden18]

[Worden18]

Some more pics of the car so you guys can get the feel of it again LOL

[Worden18]

I'm having a lot of fun working on the engine, and my friends are enjoying helping me (thank God); that's what its all about I guess 

[knuckleharley]

28 minutes ago, Worden18 said:

I'm having a lot of fun working on the engine, and my friends are enjoying helping me (thank God); that's what its all about I guess 

 

Yup,that is what it's all about.

[Worden18]

Update on the 51's engine.  Got it loaded up into my 74 Dodge and delivered to the rebuilder.  Since he's a friend of a friend I asked him if I could help take it apart so I could learn and see how these pieces are put together.  He said no problem.  So we got the bell housing off (yep there's 2 dowel pins on there which was reassuring for putting it back together).  Oil pan next, then took the clutch assembly off, after that the Fluid Drive housing.  Timing chain and gears, then the pistons.  Since I had never done this before, it was very exciting and interesting.  Taking it apart was like opening up a time capsule.  I finally got to see how it really looks.  Fairly straightforward.  The only thing we didn't get to was the camshaft and valves.  

I was slightly surprised to find that 5 of the 6 pistons each had one compression ring BROKEN.  There was only one rod bearing that had a slight groove in it.  He said the crankshaft looked excellent.  One exhaust valve was cupped.  There was sludge in the oil pan, but not as much as I expected to see.  Tomorrow we will finish disassembly and then get everything cleaned up.  After that the rebuilder will get some parts ordered, etc.  I would like to be there when he bores the block.  Things are moving along rather nicely.  Pleased with today's progress.

[Worden18]

some pics

[Worden18]

[Worden18]

[Worden18]

[Worden18]

Broken rings....

[Worden18]

[falconvan]

Looks like nothing major broke; that's always a plus.

[Worden18]

Today I learned how to rebuild/service the starter (my old timer friend does that for a living, so I was in good hands).  The brushes were in excellent shape, so we left those alone.  Both bushings were bad, so I got them out and pressed in new ones.  After pressing them in they somewhat tighten up, so my friend showed me how to mate those pieces and gently tap with a hammer as you spin it around.  That helped loosen them up a bit.  I trued up the armature (commutator) in the lathe, then put it in an undercutter to shave down the mica (which then keeps the brushes from bouncing).  Then back in the lathe to hit it with a little emery paper.  I cleaned the other pieces in the parts washer and got down to the good patina .  Then I put it back together.  Holding the springs back and guiding the brushes down into the slots was a little tricky at first.

Then we put the starter on the tester and checked the field for magnetism.  We then hooked up the leads and spun it on 6V.  The bushings were a little tight so we spun it a number of times on 12V, let it cool down, then repeated the process.  They turned out okay after cycling it a few times.  Can't say I didn't learn anything today.

I also cleaned up the oil pump which was caked with 65 years of gunk.  My friend checked the pin for slop/tightness (that thing did not budge at all, which is good).  I had good oil pressure in the car, and the mechanism turns smoothly, and the teeth on the gear were in nice shape, so we left it alone.  I think it will be fine.  Tomorrow I will sandblast the head bolts.  They are pretty well caked and beyond soaking in diesel fuel and trying to use a wire brush.  I also have the transmission and a number of other parts yet to clean up.  I have to disassemble the manifolds from each other and sandblast and paint those.  Looking forward to it.  Next week the engine builder is going to bore the block, and he invited me over to watch the process. 

[Worden18]

Starter on the tester