Guest imported_MrEarl Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 Just did a complete tune up on Sugar Magnolia, my lil 3 speed Special. This car had sat for years but was running "OK" when I bought it several months ago. I just sold the car and the check is literally in the mail. I had done a complete brake job and was getting it road ready as I had told the buyer it was a running roadworthy car which it is...or was!!I replaced points, plugs (Autolite 75's), condensor and cleaned the carb with some carb and choke cleaner spray. Took her for a test drive and was amazed at the new power she had especially in second gear. I had one more thing I wanted to do and that was to drain the gas tank as I suspected old gas still being in it although the seller had said he had drained it already. Yesterday afternoon I got in her, pressed the gas pedal and as she starts to turn over it sounded like a midget was under the hood banging on the block with a hammer.Raise the hood, turn her over again usig the carb linkage and the knocking stops and she cranks but is idling very rough and definitley not full power. I let her idle a minute and rev her some and she's running ROUGH.I am suspecting a couple of things. Stuck valve(s) from the old gas causing possibly a bent push rod or the carb cleaner made some carbon in the piston cylinders turn loose and maybe fouled a spark plug gap.Questions:Haven't had time to pull rocker covers yet but what will I be looking for when I do.How deep am I about to get if I try to replace bent rods or whatever. Does the intake manifold and valley cover have to come off to do this.Are we talking torqueing anything in the reassembly here.Are 322 and 264 valves and rods and lifter etc the same. What is a good source.Should I just load her up and take her to my mechanic and let him hanlde it.I don't have a lot of spare time these days.What is typical cost range for this type of repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brh Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 One question I have is what was coming out of the exhaust? I hope I am way off here but didn't the intake manifolds on the early 50's have a plug that would rot and fall out--best case. But that would not explain the noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imported_MrEarl Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 No smoke from the tailpipe.If this helps, there was already an exhaust manifold leak, not sure exactly where. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rlbleeker Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 A stuck valve doesn't seem likely to me. I'd start by inspecting the plugs, checking compression and timing. Possibly it jumped the timing chain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 One or more loose spark plugs? If it were me and carbon was suspected, I'd try removing all the plugs, draping a light colored rag in front of the plug holes on both sides and cranking it over a few seconds to see if anything blows out of a cylinder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imported_MrEarl Posted July 26, 2008 Share Posted July 26, 2008 Well, just as I suspected. Sticky valve causing a bent push rod. Pulled the covers, pulled the coil wire off and turned the engine over. Quickly saw one valve wasn't moving and the rod was low. Pulled the rockers, had to take vicegrips and a big scredriver to pry the rod out. Repalced it, squirted some PB Blaster on the stuck valve and pried down on it till it sprung freely back up. Hit all the rest of them with PBB and coated all the rockers with mystery oil. Put it all back together,cranked her up and poured transmission fluid down the carb whle she was at about 1/4 throttle. After the fire department left I dropped the gas tank and rinsed it out real good. Put about 10 gallons of gas in her along with some top end lubricant and ran her down the road. DANG i like that 3 speed. With a Dynaflow you never know how much power those 264/322's have.Oh yea, just kidding about the fire department but you should have seen the big cloud of smoke that completey covered the barn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron65 Posted July 26, 2008 Share Posted July 26, 2008 WHEW! Disaster averted! Good job on the diagnostics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest imported_Thriller Posted July 26, 2008 Share Posted July 26, 2008 It's kind of handy having a few spare cars around for parts... Good to hear you were able to get things fixed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted July 26, 2008 Share Posted July 26, 2008 <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> DANG i like that 3 speed</div></div> When I was restoring my 55 I looked for a manual trans. The Century used the HD trans and I was never able to convert it over. I would've in a heart beat, probably still would..........Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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