Sympathy pains for Old Henry

[41ford1]

Originally Posted by trainguy

1/4"side play in just one rod,wow,how is that possible without major wear or bad machining on the crank cheeks..This engine ran fine for years.How much side play in the other rods.I understand what you are saying,it rocks side to side 1/4"! I think you have found the problem.

Phil,
I did find this condition strange. The big end of the rod to crank clearances were the same for all cylinders. Just that one rod rocked about 1/4". The wrist pin bushing obviously failed. That allowed the piston to slap in line with the wrist pin. This piston did not collapse. All 6 were re-sized and are back in the engine. This engine ran fairly well until the knock showed up. It did need a valve job.

I put about 50 miles on it today to start breaking it in. It runs a ton better than on the Maine tour or the two Florida bashes that it has been to. I did dial in too much timing advance. That caused a hot start problem and I have an exhaust leak to address. Otherwise all is good.