Christine is back again ?
 

All these yrs I always thought she was / is a 58 Plymouth wrong its my no expense spared 59 A again terrorizing me. I have just about 450 miles on
it. It runs perfectly. So I do my daily trip to Napa & back to the shop.
It runs 175 degrees with 50# oil press. all day all night. OK end of day I
shall go to Burger King. It starts instantly but now a skip and the dreaded
tic. Vac. gauge shows that drop= intake, I can hear it in the air cleaner. So
first thought it may have lost a plug tip, seen that before. No, all plugs are
burning excellent. Something has to be stuck between valve and seat, that would cause the tic .
For 50yrs I have rebuilt 100's of all makes flatheads but this one? I have not done compression test yet, but did my thumb test all blew my thumb out, I
know not correct but with this symtom one should be weak.
Also this engine is hospital clean also genuine new Ford 8BA valve train.
I welcome even stupid ideas like gettin old is stupid...LOL sam

Re: Christine is back again ?
 

Have you done the pull the plug wire thing (one at a time) to see if there are or aren't any changes?

Re: Christine is back again ?
 

Could the "tick" you hear actually be a spark jumping from a plug wire to an alternate ground? Our hearing isn't what it was when we were 20. Are you running a coil that puts out too much secondary voltage?

Re: Christine is back again ?
 

The tic I hear is a hung up valve no. 1 cylinder. One tap with a brass punch and "snap"
valve closed started it back to normal. Put tools away, started it same thing skip and
tic tried Pblaster with its red straw & tapped it > snap & seated. I mic'd every valve stem
and mic'd all guides and all are right on specs. I even knurled all the OD's of all the guides
so all are nice and snug in the block bores. No way its bent & no way its a spring cause
when tapped its got a strong snap. I track my footsteps all I did was a fill up with
mid grade Citgo last week now this???? Have a priest dump holey water on it I guess

Re: Christine is back again ?
 

I put some $7 a gallon Racing Gas in my 40. Made a noticeable difference. I usuuall only put in 3 or 4 gallons when the tank is low.

Re: Christine is back again ?
 

My father sold Atlantic gas oil etc. I remember the Atlantic salesman with a new 1956
Plain jane Ford Co. car that insisted we put a quart of no. 30 oil in the gas tank on fill up with gas. He drove
that car into the 1970s till he retired. So little smoke don't bother me. sam

Re: Christine is back again ?
 

How about Marvel Mystery Oil in the fuel? Or 2 cycle oil. I would think if the valve starts moving again after that, it will gradually wear into the guide.

Re: Christine is back again ?
 

Yes; with my previous post with nothing to lose I dumped a qt. of 20-50 high
zinc thats all I had in the tank. Again tap the valve down and head to the hardware store. Got about a 1/2 mile my luck I forgot my phone. In first
gear in the gutter just to get off the road barely running. So I set there pumpin
the gas pedal for 15 min then it broke out of it. I am speechless holy smokes
and I thought this thing was fast its double that and I don't see no smoke either. I think the oil is raising the compression because I went in the cyl. with
a borascope and plainly see cross hatch patterns so its got more miles to go for
break in. The valve seat & valve is as the day I machined it. At my age I have never came upon any L head/ valve in block bend a valve unless somebody dropped a nut down its throat. Oh I know whats next, problem is
the downtime and this is our busy season.