Unlocking A Couple of Stuck Engines

[Barnyard]

Yes it can be done. Thanks to Gary Dotson, Steve Butram, Bob McCarty, Frank (CubFriend) Gosda, Doug (Thackery) Spaur and Harlan Pierce two more Cubs have been saved from the scrapper.

[Waif]

The epitome of a romance with old iron.
Getting an engines heart beating again , and under it's own power is a high watermark.
Rehab follows, no less important , but the satisfaction of firing off and running like it should again is hard to top.

[Lt.Mike]

Ok, am I seeing this right? Did you hone the upper portions of the cylinders with the pistons in place and at the bottom of their stroke?

[Bob McCarty]

Ok, am I seeing this right? Did you hone the upper portions of the cylinders with the pistons in place and at the bottom of their stroke?

Yes, there was also rust on the cylinder walls that needed to be removed to allow the engine to turn over easily. At first the pistons would only go about half way down, after honing, 3/4 down, then more honing to get full movement.

[Barnyard]

I look for this to be done at more CubFests in the future.

[Lt.Mike]

Ok, am I seeing this right? Did you hone the upper portions of the cylinders with the pistons in place and at the bottom of their stroke?

Yes, there was also rust on the cylinder walls that needed to be removed to allow the engine to turn over easily. At first the pistons would only go about half way down, after honing, 3/4 down, then more honing to get full movement.

No issues with the rings fitting the bore or compression?

[Bob McCarty]

I think Barnyard is going to run both for a while and then check compression. They had to be pull started at first and later would start without help.

[Gary Dotson]

Mike, the hone was used to remove rust. You'd have to hone till you're blue in the face to make the bore measurably larger. Are there problems with ring fit and compression? The rings don't fit much different than before, but, of course, some are stuck, hence the further needed attention. The first one smoked like crazy, the second one has no compression on cyl. 2, an exhaust valve apparently not sealing on that one. If it does not come around, a Cubfest valve job is in it's future.

[Clemsonfor]

Cool Vidya. Was the one that got the front axle and front seal the one guy who was posting on here last week or so about a seal?

[Gary Dotson]

Yes, he and his son are new to the Cubfest scene. Real nice guys, I enjoyed working with them.

[clintmo]

Sorry I missed all this fun. Great to see and hear you guys in the video, at least! I miss you guys!

Clint

[Gary Dotson]

We missed your smiling face too, Clint! Hope you can make it to the next one.

[BigBill]

Mike, the hone was used to remove rust. You'd have to hone till you're blue in the face to make the bore measurably larger. Are there problems with ring fit and compression? The rings don't fit much different than before, but, of course, some are stuck, hence the further needed attention. The first one smoked like crazy, the second one has no compression on cyl. 2, an exhaust valve apparently not sealing on that one. If it does not come around, a Cubfest valve job is in it's future.

Depends on what grit the stones are if it’s a spring hone. A ball hone is different grits too but they remove the glaze and put the cross hatch in the walls. The gear driven hone I have can bore any cylinder to the over size you need or just true it up. I did a v8 to .030” over. I life tested a 350 sb Chevy with .007” clearance. I wanted to see how long a engine built to race specs would last. It lasted 100 k when it started fouling plugs. I purchased stones from fine, medium to coarse. The gear driven hone you can adjust the pressure your putting on the stones. I bore many gravely tractors and Castiron sleeved dirtbikes. I have stones for nikasil.

Honing a cylinder with the pistons in is iffy because the grit and rust particles can get down to the top compression ring. A trick I do when replacing a head gasket Incase carbon particles get into the bore is put the piston down, oil the cylinder bring the piston to the top then go down. Most of the particles will stay at the top of the bore. Clean the bore the best you can.

[Barnyard]

The gear driven hone I have can bore any cylinder to the over size you need or just true it up.

We used a fine grit hone. We only wanted to remove the rust so the pistons could move.

[BigBill]

As long as you do the oil trick to get out what’s in the cylinder to clean it.

I’ve seen what a dirty or rotten air cleaner can do to a cylinder once the dirt gets in there.
On cub cadets I’m running the foam precleaner and on my fcub I already purchased a precleaner for that too. I seen enough scored cylinder from neglect on cc tractors. I have a box of filters and precleaner.