Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[exbmc]

Alex, there must be some compression, as Bitumenboy says, or the engine will not run.
Have the engine warm for best results. Remove all the spark plugs, and have an assistant hold the throttle fully down, to get maximum air in. Press the compression gauge tip firmly into No1 plug hole, or screw it in, depending on what you have bought. Have your assistant crank the engine, with ignition off, and keep cranking until the gauge ceases to show any more increase in pressure. Record the result, zero the gauge and move onto No2 and do it again. Then No3 and 4.
If you end up with four readings, they should hopefully be about equal. To see if there is ring wear, you can put a few squirts from an oil can into each cylinder just before checking the compression, if the recorded readings improve, it indicates some ring wear, temporarily cured by the sealing effect of the oil. In case you have an accelerator pump type carb, have the helper open the throttle just once, and keep it open for the duration of the comp checks, this will stop you firing unwanted fuel into the cylinders. The ignition is off to save you catching a HT lead and getting a belt off it.Good luck.

[Bitumen Boy]

I wonder if the push-in type compression testers are still available? Probably not much use on a modern engine, the sort of awkward plug locations they go in for these days.

Given a screw-in compression tester, an ordinary brick placed on the throttle pedal is every bit as good as an assistant, and doesn't moan or give you any backchat

[AlexMG]

Guys, thanks for all your helpful comments. The reading on the second compression tester was still minimal. The needle bearly gets off the zero mark on all 4 cylinders, but it does move. I tested the compression wet as well as dry with no recordable difference. The engine seemed to pull on load but by how much is debatable. Since this activity has now created a missfire and backfiring I have now taken the head off again and will regrined the valves properly with a drill arrachmenr lapping tool. I have poored Redex into each of the pots to see if there is any leakage over time. Anything else I can do before the head goes back on. I an trying to avoid having the remove the engine to replace the piston rings. This I assume should also require a rebore.

[Rick]

[AlexMG]

I am now looking out for the specific tool to remove the valves and hold them in place whilst i regrind. Looks as if i will also have to set new tappit gaps. Measured today and one is just 2thou clearance. The widest gap is 13thou. Anyone know what the gaps should be or how to reset them? Will a workshop manual on the E93A as advertised show me the details?

[Rick]

A manual would be a very good investment. To set gaps on an E93A engine you have to grind the stem of the valves down; unlike the 100E engine the gaps are not adjustable as such on the E93A lump, although I believe there is a conversion out there for the earlier 10hp engine such as yours

RJ
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[Rick]

PS valve clearances are 0.0115" to 0.0135" inlet and exhaust.

R
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[exbmc]

Oh yes, the split valve guides, i had forgotten about those. The remover is like a mushroom, with an open side which slips over the valve once the spring is off.Then knock them out with a hammer. It's years since i did any, and i can't recall a tool for keeping the valves central while grinding. I think, i refitted the valves and guides after cleaning up, lapped them in, then removed the lot again to clean the stems in case any paste had got on them. As i recall, i had mainly wide gaps, and you don't half need to do some lapping in to reduce a clearance by a couple of thou. In the end, i purchased new cam followers and that fixed the excess clearance. As you say Rick, for tight clearances the tip of the valve stem has to be ground down.

[Rick]

[Salopian]

Your memory is correct Rick - A good few years ago saw the local dealers using one.
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Jonathan Butler
Alvis SD 12/50 1928 MG TD 1950

[Kelsham]

I used the valve guides in the same way as exbmc suggests. did buy the valve guide removal tool though.

Ground the foot of the valve to get the correct clearance.

My worst experience with Fords valve setup was doing a V8 Jensen engine. the valve guides were stuck and I had to make up a tool to pull the valve heads upwards to get the guides out. This bent the valves, which I replaced and bought an aftermarket valve adjusting tappet set.

Spent hours on it and it wasn't even my car.

Kels.

[Churchill Johnson]

The van norman and black and decker valvemaster grinding machine's had an attachment at the right side to keep the valve stem straight when grinding the end against the side of the stone i still have two of these machine's along with the seat cutter and diamond tipped stone refacer but alas hardly ever used now.

[AlexMG]

This topic seems to have sparked off a lot of nostalgic interest. I intend to try and reseat the valves and grind the base of the valves first without removing. I will use a flat stone to take off the necessary thickness fron the base of the valves (if i can get it between the cam followers and the valves) and normal valve grinding with the valve guides in place. A thorough clean up after to remove any paste benin essential.

[exbmc]

I still use a valvemaster a couple of times a month, truing up valves for light aircraft engines. Churchill Johnson, do you know of a source for drive belts? The old beggar i use has strips of inner tube to turn the wheels! I have had a trawl on the net, but had no luck yet.

[ka]

There is a lot of useful and accurate advice here. Try again as advised to get a pressure reading from the cylinders as this will give the best clue as to what is wrong.
From experience you will find it very difficult if not impossible to grind the base off the cam followers to provide clearances. Small Fords do excellent adjustable tappets for the 10hp, well worth the investment IF you intend to drive some mileage in the car, otherwise if you spend time doing the clearances once, they will last for years. I do have the mushroom tool that is a big help when removing the split collets, but the centralizing tool is not essential, and almost impossible to find even on E Bay. I clean up a pair of the collets to make them a slide fit in the block and use them to grind in the valves, fiddly but as I have said, not a job to do too often. Most Ford engine runners add an extra breather to the engine, as they are quite big "breathers" easy way is to replace the fuel pump with an additional (besides the filler cap) breather with a catch tank! Best of luck
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KA

Better three than four.