Building up a Spare Engine (1927) for the Red Chev - Part 4

Well I spent the day on this old banger 27 engine today, very educational, but not entirely the happy ending I was looking for.

It went like this


I used a good second hand head gasket, which was painted with silver frost on both sides.

The reconditioned 28 head was prepared for fitting

And assembled

I fitted the rocker arms, set the valves clearances and did a compression test before I went any further. This was where the happy ending did not happen.

Before I stripped the 27 head off the compression readings were

No. 1 - 30 psi     No. 2 - 60 psi    No. 3 - 55 psi   No. 4 - 55 psi

I was hoping that the 30 psi on number 1 was valve related and would have came back up with the new head. Alas I was wrong, as the new compression readings were:

No. 1 - 35 psi     No. 2 - 65 psi    No. 3 - 60 psi   No. 4 - 60 psi

I think the 5 psi increase across the 4 cylinders was due to oil I had in each bore.

At this stage I could have packed it away for the future knowing that the rings in no 1 were stuffed, so I was looking at a re-bore and new pistons and rings across the 4 cylinders.

But the fiddler in me took over and I fitted the 28 inlet and exhaust manifolds and carby, and fired it up briefly.

As the bottom end (crank and bearings) appear to be good. my plan is to sell off the 27 head, inlet and exhaust manifolds, carby and head water inlet.

Hopefully this will start the fund to do the pistons rings and re-bore.

But so far it has been a great training exercise, and I am sure it will continue to be so.

Stay tuned for updates