Re: 51 Patrician - Advice on next step

Posted by Larry51 On 2013/10/15 4:43:14

Regarding compression - did you find any scoring of the bores? If none then it's doubtful that you have broken rings. They could just be worn.

A very worn engine will typically have a step at the top of each cylinder where top ring finishes its travel, and bores may be shiny.A reasonable check for worn rings is to add a few aquirts of heavy oil down plug holes, then crank and see if the compression rises considerably compared to original readings done without oil. If it does then suspect worn rings.

When the valves are open you could check if the seats and valve faces are pitted or burned, causing compression blow-past.

You could fit the old head gasket just temporarily to re-test compression but a new one is necessary eventually.

Also - ensure each valve closes fully when it should. If any stay open (mis-adjusted lifters, etc) this affects compression readings also. Best of luck with the project.