Rebuilder out of business and I know why

[dean from bozeman]

For years I had wanted to restore several Model A's. So when I had the chance I had an engine rebuilt by a man who at the time had a good reputation. Well as time went on there were other priorities and the engine wasn't used.

Fast forward to last Fall: A Model A that I had needed an engine so I put that rebuilt one in. It took some doing but we did get it going and it ran fine...that is until we turned it off. When that happened we couldn't get it restarted until it almost totally cooled down.

We measured the bore and the pistons. There was less the .002 clearance. The pistons were .030 over. They were replaced with .020 pistons and the engine ran well until it was turned off. The same problem. It had to totally cool down before it could be restarted. It was better than before (less time to restart it) but still not right.

Now I must say that going to a .020 piston, I thought it would be best to put the .030 rings back in so it wouldn't be too sloppy.

We checked the clearance on the center main and it was less than .002.

When the engine was rebuilt the man said that he had built it "tight" so that when it finally broke in it would be a fine engine for a long time. Naive me. I wondered why a guy wouldn't build it to be at its best from the get go. But I figured he knew what he was talking about.

Engine rebuilders live hours from me. So I can't just drive over and talk to them...yet. So I "drove" to Fordbarn and want to get your ideas first. Any ideas, suggestions, experiences are welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks.
Dean