Posted by David Sherman on Friday, May 13, 2005 at 2:02PM :
In Reply to: Thanks Gordon and David... posted by Chris Davis - Centerville, UT on Friday, May 13, 2005 at 1:25PM :
Talk to the real old-timers and you'll hear all kinds of stuff that they used to do to keep old engines running. The modern idea of a complete overhaul was a luxury they couldn't afford. They'd do things like shim bearings or file bearing caps to get rid of a rod knock (for a little while), knurl pistons to make them fit tighter (for a little while), grind the valves in-place against their seats (none of this 3-angle business). There was even some kind of powdered metal pellets you could stick in through the spark plug hole that were supposed to build up worn rings (I highly doubt they did much good).
One old-timer told me he had an old dump truck with a rod journal that had gotten pounded into an oval from being run loose for a long time. It was his work truck and he could afford the time or money to pull the engine and get the crank ground, so every day or so he'd file the rod cap a little more and tighten it down real tight on the crank until eventually it had worn the crank journal back into a relatively round shape. I believe this motor had poured babbit bearings so there was quite a bit of material to work with. When you can't do it right because you don't have the money, and the only way to make the money is to get your truck working, you do what you have to do.
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