Technical Doing a valve job the old way

I haven't been that lucky....never had an opportunity to get valve/seat grinding stuff free or real cheap. But I suppose if I looked around, I might be able to find some.

yeah, it's the long tail side shift trans. I need to pull it out and look at it, I suppose. It's just sitting in the frame X member right now, the driveshaft is out, and the engine is out. The clutch looks almost new, the pilot bearing came apart (ball bearing), the throw out bearing needs the plug removed and a zerk installed, and a few squeezes of gun grease in it.

 

I love reading your post, I want to be the first to tell you that you are doing it wrong
I really enjoy reading about your adventures. Solar powered stereo in a corvair??? I laughed so hard trying to explain it to my uncle, he still thinks I am nuts.
Going racing in the cheby a few months ago, then end up street driving it when your truck transmission went south .... it was a adventure, loved it.

I myself am on a adventure. I live in Washington, just bought a house in Texas.
In the process of starting up my avatar photo and driving it to Texas.
My compression check was poor and pulled the head yesterday, 60 60 30 0 0 0 had 5 stuck valves.
Engine gasket set from napa be here tomorrow or Wed.
Ordered a new fuel tank from tanks inc and be here Thur
Disk brake conversion kit from rusty hope and be here Thurs
Pick up a exploder rear end 3:73 gears Wed
May 1rst I am driving this girl 2k miles to Texas
I bet you $5 I wont have door glass, but I have a really good heater.

We live and we die, what happens inbetween we call life.
I wish/hope I get to run into Jim sometime and shake his hand, thank him for the inspiration and the memories.

 

Holy ship... subscribed....

 

Just heard it on my ipod the other day on my way to work.

 

maybe not applicable to that lasalle, but i bought a pilot and other necessaries for grinding seats for flathead ford on ebay. stones available elsewhere. it's a black & decker, which seemed to have the most availability at the time.

 

Did not see this before I posted. You must have read the same book written by Neil about his various cars he has owned over the years as I did.

 

Ohh, What's the name of the book?

 

Thanks TB! Now I'm off to Amazon.

 

Thanks for the ride along Squirrel! I'll be following this adventure. We passed through Sierra Vista in March on a circumnavigation of your fine state. You live in a beautiful area.

 

David was down last weekend, we fiddled with brakes, and I got the remains of the head bolts out of the block. He was going to visit today, but didn't make it. But I'm working on the engine anyways. I got the block mostly cleaned up, did the final lap of the valves, polished the stems, cleaned the ports and everything as best I could, and did a final hone.

Today I started reassembly, put the valve springs in, then the cam and lifters, then the crank and started on the pistons.

 

I know nothing about these old Cad/LaSalle flatheads. Does that crankshaft have bolt on counterweights? Did they all? It's a lot more beefy looking that the usual flathead V8's I've been working on. Still only 3 mains, though.

 

yup, huge bolt on counterweights. And hydraulic lifters. 3 main bearings. Should be fun to see how it runs!

 

One caveat: If the valves get too thin the outer edge heats up and warps or cracks. Everything has a finite life span.
'Cept maybe an anvil...

 

yup, gotta leave some margin

 

I have never seen a Caddy flathead in pieces. Interesting engine. I am a little surprised with the engine only having 3 mains.
Are you going to do something unusual with the exhaust manifolds?
I always paid the extra money and bought the Souix valve stones. Yeah, they cost more, but no worries about a stone disintegrating while you are grinding something. I had that happen with a no name stone. Pieces of stone everywhere, required a diaper change. Thank goodness I was wearing safety glasses.
Bob

 

I'm going to put the exhaust manifolds right back where they were. I'll scrape off the remains of the old gaskets, first.

 

I rebuilt the 346 for my old '40 Cadillac, love the way those engines are built. Bolt-in lifter blocks holding four lifters each, neat plumbing from the engine block to the lifter blocks, and those HUGE weights bolted to the crank. No worries regarding just three main journals, these engines make hellish torque at RPM's that most engines idle at. No reason to spin them fast at all.

 

The rear gears are rather steep, so it will spin a bit.

Sent from my Trimline

 

@squirrel I like your Trimline signature. I have an Ericofon sitting on the counter that I use. One with a dial, so I cannot press 1 to speak with someone about purchasing an extended automobile warranty...

 

Back in 1959, there were two guys in the club that installed OHV Caddies, but I never even heard of someone playing with the Caddie flathead.
I learn something every day on this list.
Bob

 

Do a Google search on Flatcad racing.....

 

I watched the run, sounded fantastic.
Bob

 

You're not going to need that heater. Where are you headed to in Texas?

 

The road trip we are taking in the Hearse starts in Chicago at the end of October, we follow route 66 to the end by the ocean.

It'll be cold.

 

I go the engine together the rest of the way tonight, so that it's out of my way....

 

Those bolt on counter weights are crazy. And veddy cool.

—louis

 

We expect a trip report too.

—louis

 

Are those exhaust manifolds enamelled?
Those early engineers had a funny way of attaching manifolds to the engine. I guess with nice soft asbestos gaskets they must have sealed okay.