just had my old flatmotor torn down. knew the engine needed a compl rebuild and probably 1 sleeve, was hoping to salvage the merc crank. it needs turning and hasn't been previously cut. noticed a big chip out of the casting. is that fatal ? unusual? common? it would be a shame to have to make a mailbox post out of a merc.

i know my pistons are toast, but what else might be useable, marketable? i assume i can unload the heads, manifold, pan, cam, poss block, what about the rest? rods? valves? lifters? valve springs? thanks for your help. fortunately the junkyard eab i picked up is running great and the f-1 is reliable, doing about 1000 miles per summer. dick r

 

Yeah, its fatal - send it to me and I'll dispose of it properly!!


Actually, every merc crank I know of has that same 'chip' missing. Nothing wrong with what you have there - run it and grin!

 

Agree with MT, I have seen speculation that is where the casting sprue was broken off

 

thanks guys. that is what i wanted to hear and i knew i'd get answer here from a flatmotor pro. i would love to hang on to the merc and maybe some day build an engine around it. my old block hasn't been dipped/fluxed yet so i don't know it that's ok. can rods generally be reconditioned? should i hang on to the old valve train parts? i guessing the heads, manifold, pan, cam are prob reuseable. thanks again. my brother in law is a ch**y guy and he wishes he had a forum like FTE (even stovebolt is lame compared to FTE). dick r

 

Don't throw anything away... rods, lifters/tappets, cam, etc can all be reconditioned. I'm hanging on to a cracked block that could be pinned and sleeved just because. Someday somebody will be glad I did.

About the only thing that's scrap are the pistons that broke on removal. Even the whole ones will work for someone who's missing one of that size.

 

mt, i like your thinking. i do have a good running eab in the truck now i had already told my wife "i'll part out the merc to get some of my money back" but i'll tell her a trusted advisor from FTE with 4000 posts recommended saving everything. i won't tell her where you live. she has said we should have kept the rangoon red 40 ford coupe with 50 merc flathead that i sold for $600 in 1972.

just as an interesting side note, the piston that was broken, broke when i was still driving it, drove it a few more months and it ground up the pieces, cut a vertical rim in cylinder. several rings were broken in other cyl as well, in addition to a badly stuck valve, two burned valves and a few exhaust valves that were seating. it still ran in that condition, but not a lot of power.

dick r

 

yeah, I guess not!!

 

"i won't tell her where you live."

Just tell her my name is Ross and I live in Rio Rancho, NM..........