The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Good V-8 Engine Re-builder?

Anyone know of a good engine mechanic/re-builder with a lot of experience on old V-8 engines in the Arkansas area or bordering states?

I bought the truck in April and as I might be moving to WA this winter (and might have to drive her all the way) Feel like I should have someone knowledgeable check out the engine as I haven't had a classic specialist look it yet.

Any suggestions help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

J.D. Wooley, owner of Cabot Automotive Engine rebuilding (501) 843-7291 central Arkansas. Brian

Welcome to the Stovebolt.

I don't know anything about the services available where you are, but since I live in Washington I thought it appropriate to say hi.

In July I drove an ancient V-8 3200 miles round trip to Colorado and back. They can do it.

I'm in Nashville, and I've been building smallblock Chevvies since 1962. Of course, that's 200 miles east of Memphis, so just getting here would be a pretty good workout! What engine, and year truck are you working with?
Jerry

64, OldSub, and Hotrod, thanks for the contacts and encouragement, I really appreciate it.

The engine is a 283 V-8 in a 1959 3800 1 Ton. I currently have an rebuilt Rochester 2 bbl carb in her, (came from the seller).

Problems:

(1) Lots of "smoke" (seems white) coming out that little engine exhaust pipe under the cab when idling & driving.
(2) Backfires on deceleration.
(3) Stumbles or coughs when accelerating after she's warmed up.

I don't have much experience with these old trucks yet, but from what I've been reading these are probably due to the carb, timing chain, (guys at one shop couldn't get the timing marks to line up) and possibly leaky pistons rings or valves.

Does this sound right to anyone?

I've already changed and tuned the points, new battery, rebuilt the "rebuilt carb" and taken it to one mechanic.

I'd love to "try" to fix her myself, (as seen at oldsub.com) however with the chance we might drive her to WA (OldSub thanks for your encouragement) instead of towing her behind a rental truck, I thought it might be wiser to find someone experienced who could work on her.

Again thanks for the replies, let me know if you have any thoughts.

Jacob

P.S. Oh! one other thing (funny how there always seems to be)

Occasionally she has a hard time starting back up, (i.e. after fueling at gas stations) when she does start the Ammeter gauge goes way up. (Alternator problems? it's new from the seller) Sorry about the laundry list. Could these be connected?

The "smoke" from the road draft tube is blow-by, usually caused by piston ring wear. Has the engine been stored withiout running for a while, or has the truck been in use? If it's coming out of long-term storage, the blowby might clear up a little with some more driving.

I'd begin with a compression check, looking for uniformity between cylinders rather than a particular pressure reading. A minimum pressure of 100 pounds or so, and a 10% or less variation between cylinders indicates a pretty sound engine. Very low compression, or wide variations between cylinders indicaste ring and/or valve problems. It's possible to diagnose ring problems most of the time with a "wet" compression test, with a couple of ounces of oil squirted into a cylinder before the test. If compression rises noticeably after the oil is added, you've got leaky rings. Little or no rise on a low-compression cylinder indicates valve problems.

Once you've established the engine is OK on compression, the rest is just tinkering, carburetor rebuild or adjustment, ignition timing, plug wires, etc. Find out if the engine is mechanically sound first of all.
Jerry

If you're looking for the best engine builder for street small blocks, check out www.fcrperformance.com . Terry Fritsch has been building engines of all makes (specifically Chevy and Olds) for over 40 years, and is the NHRA top fuel champion from a number of years back. The only drawback in your case is that he is in Omaha, NE. Kind of a hike, but if you're wanting a powerful street/strip motor that will run for hundreds of thousands of miles, talk to him.

Thank you all for the help and Sorry I haven't replied sooner.

Yes the truck has been sitting for quite a long time before May of this year. The previous owner might have put 1000 miles on it a year. Since I bought it in May I've put about another 1000 miles on it.

It looks like that compression check is top priority so I'll check into that first and see what the results are. Thanks again.

So Jerry,

Care to make a recommendation of a good compression tester? I have two, both cheapies, one with a rubber nipple on the end to jam into the spark plug hole, one with a 45 degree rubber nipple. Problem is, I can't get a decent reading on all cylinders because I just can't get past the exhaust manifold to get to the spark plug hole on a couple cylinders.

Seems like I've seen them with a rubber hose and an end you can thread into the spark plug hole. Would that come with different adapters or do you have to buy the one specific to your application?

A good screw-in compression tester should have 3 hoses, a short-reach and a long-reach 14MM thread, and an 18MM thread for early Ford OHV V-8's, and a few other oddball engines with big-thread plugs. I think the early International tractors ran an 18MM plug, but the vast majority of engines use 14MM threads. All the stovebolt engines I'm aware of use a short-reach 14MM thread plug.
Jerry

Some '40's 216's use a 12mm spark plug. I think '46-'48.