The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 216/W1 experts to the white courtesy phone please

Ok, my buddy with the 53 3600 216, 4 speed, with a 49 carter w-1 carb on it is having some issues.

First off- the engine will idle normal. timing set with gun to the ball centered on the needle. When you accelerate engine wants to cut out and die- also a lot of pinging knocking sounds coming from inside the engine- we thought we had this licked earlier- but no luck.

Turns out that he had the choke cable cut to short for about the 1st 800 miles since rebuild. that means his choke knob in the off position was really in the choke 3/4 on position.

So the oil was extremely dilluted-

Engine now when running has no power for driving around unless the choke is on- which makes me believe there is a vacuum leak in the intake side of things- Is this the proper train of thought? probably some burned valves.

I am planning tomorrow to run compression test, vacuum test and see what those tests yield- I imagine the vacuum test will fail.

I also wonder if there are issues in the carb. tomorrow I also plan to check the funny base gasket with the little cutouts- as well as the internal mechanisms.

Any thoughts(other than the engine will be extremely dirty if not burned up from the diluted oil.)

It sounds like the cylinders got fuel-washed and wore the rings out. Does it have a lot of blow-by? (Blue smoke from the valve cover vents and/or the road draft tube) I believe you'll find very low, and/or badly mismatched compression pressures.
Jerry

Thanks for the quick reply-
No blue smoke or for that matter really any smoke coming out of the draft tube or vent holes in the rocker arm cover- That is what is strange-

well other than the normal vapors when the engine is warm

Sounds alot like what I'm going through with the Rochester on my 54' 235. Lacks power, and wants to die when throttled...unless you have the choke knob about 3/4 out. Then she runs like a champ, but idles fine no matter what the choke knob is at (once warm). Did a vacuum test, and got 19.5" at idle. Checked for vacuum leaks, and only found a small leak at the notorious throttle/choke shafts.

That's where I'm at. I'm thinking about having the throttle shaft bushings installed this winter, as well as making sure the castings aren't warped. If I find something miraclous, I'll let you know. I believe that Chetman here on the forum is going through the same thing as both of us.

By the way, I live in Roeland Park (grew up in De Soto), always nice to get to know local 'bolters. e-mail me if you need an extra hand, or I can help in any way.

[email protected]

Bryan

so tonight I pulled the rocker arm shaft off- pulled the pushrods- and then rolled them on a flat surface- #1 pushrod, #4 pushrod were slightly out of balance- I put in some spare push rods of mine(from another 216). we then cold set those two valves and started the engine- Big improvement- so then let the engine run at varying rpm for about 25 minutes- then set the valves to 6 and 13. The truck ran much better- noisy lifters at idle- then gets quiet and smooth when accelerating. So we ran a vacuum test- 19" which I thought was good-
Then the compression test.
1 95
2 110
3 108
4 102
5 102
6 80

We then decided to take the truck out in the neighborhood to see how it ran compared to before- sluggish at first, but still much more power than before-
As we drove it power improved and the engine began to smooth out-
We drove around at varying speeds and rpms for about 25 minutes- By the end of the drive there was still very noisy lifters at idle but the truck has much more power and seems almost comparable to my 49's that run well and fairly quiet.
Oil int he truck is fresh 15w40 rotella and filter.

We plan to drive it a bit more- and then run another compression test.

Bryan- that is cool My office is in Roeland park, kansas city valve and fitting in the roeland park industrial park.

We just went over the valves again and the pushrods- it is getting better-

Rusty looks like a great truck- run a compression test and see how it comes out-
I will pm you my phone number- A couple of us locals go to the Okie joe's BBQ in olathe on saturdays in the old trucks- maybe sometime we will have to come up to the original.

would lappimg the valves improve compression more than a few psi?

I would narrow it down to see if your compression loss is rings or valves. Pull out all the plugs, run a compression test, then quirt a little oil into each hole. If that brings the compression up to near normal, you have excessive ring blow by. I it does not, you probably have a burned valve. Lapping only does good after you grind the valve and seats to put the final touch on it. If you just lap the valve, you will just make the seats wider and they are probably too wide already. While you have the head down, you should measure the guides. Replacement or knurling may be in order. If the engine has been set up for a while and shows excessive blow by, you may have stuck rings. Squirting something like Marvel Mystery Oil in each hole and letting it set about a week might help that.

I am thinking we will probably get the head reconditioned at an engine machine shop- New valve seats make sure the head is not warped- press in new guides- etc.

How much of this is possible to do yourself- I have a small press- and hand tools- the usual electric tools as well-(drill, grinders)

In the long run Sam I personally think you're better off just dropping it off and picking it up at the end of the week all completed. That machinist probably isn't a very good salesman so unless you have a good deal of auto machine shop background, you are probably not going to be able to do his job as well as he can. Unlike rebuilding a carburetor or a tune up, headwork is precision work and most of us just aren’t set up to do it properly.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

after reasearching a little more Denny I agree.
New plan is to try wet compression test- then pull head and get it "serviced" Depending on how that test goes we will look at the bottom end-

Better to leave it to thr pros,I agree with Denny, I did my own and busted a guide ended up taking it in to fix it.