[AT] JD B resurrection contemplation

[Cecil Bearden]

Spencer:

I used to do that with Chrysler Industrials and 3 1/4 bore continentals 
in the 80's.   I rebuilt over 12 of these I found in junkpiles with air 
compressors or pumps on them.  At that time I could buy Ohio pistons for 
$6 ea and I would just break the pistons out and go on.  I set the block 
in a lye water mixture in a 55 gallon barrel with a hot water tank 
burner underneath.  A 50 gallon propane tank kept the fire going until 
it went out.   When I came home from work I would pull out the block 
with the loader tractor, wash it off and bore the block.  I could also 
rebuild a 350 chevy for $130 in parts including gaskets.

In the 90's All the small engine  manufacturers were bought out and even 
TRW quit supplying engine parts.  My parts bill for the same engine went 
from $85 to $375 plus gaskets.  I then started looking for ways to free 
up and recondition the pistons.  and any other part that was usable.  At 
that time I only had Propane available.  I used liquid propane to shrink 
the pistons and I saved many more than I had to throw away.

Thanks to the high scrap prices the used parts are not available for 
many of the good, useful engines we used.  The use of overseas 
manufacturers caused a requirement for a shipping container load of 
parts to be made in a production run, so unless there were 20K engines 
out there, no replacement parts were made.   I have an ONAN 12KW 
generator that the pistons are only available from ONAN at the price of 
$350 each.  I sleeved the engine to fit the used pistons and saved $650 
on parts.    Gaskets are another item that are just plain ridiculous, 
but that is another rant for another day.

Cecil in OKla


On 4/5/2017 5:46 PM, Spencer Yost wrote:
> Not to be a wet blanket on all of this stuck piston fun, but I would say a solid three out of five pistons I get out of a bore are unusable for one reason or another. Either the bore is in such bad shape the engine has to be rebored and fitted with new pistons, or the piston ring grooves are in horrible shape, etc.  Turning the engine upside down on the stand and cracking the off the top of the pistons is something I tend to do more of these days:  Takes five minutes and the pistons then come right out :-)  I do realize some replacement pistons are very expensive, and that determines how hard I try before taking the easy way out.
>
> I did unstick the engine in the Massey Harris mustang one time with a concoction of diesel and ATF.  Took about a month with nearly daily woodblock pounding(crankshaft had been removed).  I must admit it cleaned up nicely and ran great afterwards.  That engine was the exception. Many of the old list members remember my restoration of the Pacer. I tried everything for months to get those pistons out and I never could.
>
>
> Spencer Yost
>
>
>
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