Sure wouldn't hurt to pull the valve covers and while your there check the valve lash too. Flatheads generally don't have a lot of (valve) spring pressure so I'd doubt a cam lobe is going flat and if a valve was stuck open you'd have no compression and a dead hole. The first thing I would do is put a vacuum gauge on it and look for a rapid fluctuation if any of the intake valves are leaking.Exhaust valves leaking would sound like a faint rhythmic pop at the tailpipe at a slow idle. Bad rings,especially on the low cylinders I would expect to see a puffing out of the oil fill tube,BUT in my case the second compression rings seemed to carry the load well and I had no blowby to speak of. IF you do decide to pull the head off I would caution you to make sure that 'money gun' is reloaded and you have a couple spare clips(kidding). But if you have other areas that need attention$ it wouldn't hurt to run it as is for now. I have just seen to many projects(mine included) get put on the back burner and start collecting dust as soon as they're not drivable anymore. Gasketwise let me recommend http://bestgasket.com/ ,great products and they have a dealer in Ontario. If your not comfortable doing the valve adjustments I'm sure we can get you dialed-in with tips on that too. As far as reringing in the car,if you can get the pan off I'm sure its doable. On my Hudson,removing the inner fender and tire on the valve cover side gave good access. With the car on a lift I could stand in the fenderwell and have room to work.
A wealth of valuable info Ramblur... Thanks again. There is the odd pop out the tailpipe but I wouldn't say its rythmic. Just a pop every few seconds or so accompanied by a constant "faint" haze of smoke. (I did have problems with the interior gasket of the oil bath aircleaner failing and sucking oil in and burning it, but I *THINK* I got that fixed.) And yes, the oil breather tube that dumps to the ground seems to be puffing but it seems to be vapour that dissipates right away. (moisture?) And the oil filler has a little smoke coming out of it too. At idle the motor does have a shake to it, most likely due to a few cyls having unequal pressure I think. And adjusting the valves, the manual says it can be done when its running. How the hell are you going to turn the adjuster when its going up and down opening and closing a valve??? I thought I saw somewhere in my manual also that these are a solid lifter engine. But I'll be danged if I can find that info again. Or was I imagining it? To pass the inspection I had to fix an exhaust manifold leak so I have had the manifold off. Surprisingly the inside of the block looks fairly clean. Not varnished looking. It just looks like a b!tc# to get at is all.
Nice 54 Poncho Tin Indians. I'd recomend re-doing the rings if you are going to do a valve job. Normally when you do the valve job, the increased compression will crack those old rings. Carl
That's a very cool car! And it's pretty rare too.. Hope you don't do anything radical to it. Eventually it will make a roomy and very cool car for road trips.
The Jalopy Journal
