For your viewing entertainment...
The backstory:
This truck I pulled from a junkyard last December has been sitting outside in Maine for 48 years. It's a 226 inline six engine. A friend dared me to get it running before I yanked the engine out.
The engine wasn't seized but I had to 'borrow' some parts from my '51 to replace the inoperable ones on the '49
'New' parts needed were a coil, starter, carb, plug wires, fuel pump, starter solenoid, battery.
This engine ran using the original oil, plugs, cap, rotor, points, battery cables.

I put 3/4 quart of Marvel Mystery Oil in the crankcase and spun it until oil came from the sending unit hole. I used a boat tank and hose to supply fuel.
Tried to use the original radiator but the thing leaked so fast I pulled it off and filled the top hose with plain hose water until it came out the water pump.
The engine was run for about one minute after this video, just enough to prove to my friend that it would run.
Oh yeah, the engine when warm smelled like 48 years of time all in one cloud.
Cylinder compression before it started ranged from 25 to 60 pounds. After running it ranged from 110 to 130. You can hear the cylinders kick in one at a time in this video below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B55...w?pref=2&pli=1


Tom

 

Cool! Congrats! How much money did you win on this challenge?

 

Thats awesome Norm. Put the tires back on and take Marge for a spin. She smoothed right out! Why yank the engine after all that....

 

Alright Tom! That's how you do it man. Guess you took care of the skeeters. The wife didn't seem to care for the smoke though.

 

Amazing! Are you going to restore the truck?

 

Excellent!
I love it when an old engine comes back to life. I recently did something similar with a Packard straight 8


Bobby

 

Thanks guys...

He'll let me borrow some more tools....

Josh, I'm wondering the same thing now....it has better compression than the '51. But I'll be taking everything off to start the resto from the frame up. When I saw how much oil sludge, mouse poop, rust and dirt was all over that engine I had no intentions of using it for anything but taking parts off it. The sludge at the front crank seal and rear seal is more than 1/2" deep. When I first got the truck it barely had thumb compression. Figured it was beat as hard as the body was - it was a plow truck. See picture below of what the engine looked like. I'm amazed it ran as good as it did. Gotta re-think the plans for that engine. Too good for parting it out.

Yes, the process of scrounging parts has begun. I've already got an 8' bed, rear fenders, running boards and rear bumper from Arizona. The bed is sort of visible in the video upside down in a trailer in the background. The original bed will flutter and collapse if you sneeze towards it. I found a rear axle in a local junkyard from a '71 F-250 to improve the gear ratio from 4:86 to 4:10.
The rest will be fairly stock except for power brakes, 12V wiring and radial tires. It'll take me a couple of years to do this one. Unless a midwest tornado drops an intact two bay heated garage on my property. I do all my work in the driveway in nice weather. That is only 37 days a year around here....
Tom

 

If you look at the last picture in my last post, you can see that someone mounted an external oiler tank on the upper left of the firewall. The plumbing for it is gone but it must have saved the engine from going low on oil and reduced the wear and tear. I have no idea where the oil inlet for the engine used to be, but that round thing is a gravity-fed oil tank.
Also, check out the dual trumpet horns that someone mounted on the cylinder head. The pipes were broken off but the diaphragms are still there.
This engine bay was untouched since the days of Woodstock. All the rubber pieces and wiring just crumbled in my hands.

.

 

Tom,
Excellent and you even had a cheering squad!

 

Very impressive!

 

That thing doesn't sound too bad at all! Way to bring it back to life!

 

That motor came back to life rather nicely, good job. The air cleaner configuration is really interesting.

 

Thanks, The air cleaner appears to be from a 50's Ford passenger car, and fits the truck carb well. I'm keeping it and will pretty it up and put a paper/fiber element in it instead of using an oil bath type. Behind the air cleaner, mounted on the firewall is an external gravity feed oil tank. Still haven't figured out how it works and maybe this winter I'll research it and figure out how to restore and re-use it.
If anyone recognizes that type of tank let me know, sure would like to understand it. It has a glass sight window on the front.
Tom

 

Good video Tom

The fire extinguisher is classic, a must have for yard starts.

And holy smokes +100 compression, you must be living right.

JB

 

Outstanding. These engines just want to run. I've got new hope for a couple non-op flatties now.