ClassicCar

Looks like you have a deluxe coupe, a very good score,

and very complete

I will have to sell you a mascot to go on her

Mike

Well I'm a month into this now and starting to get situated. I've found

that the engine in it is a 29 model and I purchased a 31 motor/trans

last week with a good carb/intake. My brother picked up the 31 and pulled

the carb,intake,accessory drive housing,and exhaust manifold and shipped

down here leaving the rest in Ohio. I knew the exhaust manifold was

different(clamp-on 29-vs.-bolt on 31) but thought maybe the rest would

swap. WRONG, the intake elbow on the 31 has a wider bolt pattern where

it bolts to the block and a much larger "D"shaped intake port. The 29

intake elbow that the PO destroyed has a small round port as does the

29 block:(. Also the accessory drive housings are different as are the oil pumps,

although the 31 came with the correct dizzy(the 29 had a Chrysler-Autolite

dizzy that was functional)

The intake mismatch throws a wrench in my plans for trying to get the 29

engine running,unless I can find a 29 intake elbow to continue. I did take

the advice given here and dropped the pan to find all kinds of sludge

hiding there. The cylinder bores look decent from the bottom but the rings

must be stuck in the pistons. Cranking compression averages about 50 psi

dry and 70-80 with squirting oil in the cyls. Leakdown showed an average

20/80 with no leakage past valves. All of it going past rings.Oiling the cylinders showed no or very low leakdown for the first couple seconds

till the air blew all the oil past the rings then they went back down to

around 20/80.

The carb that came with the 31 engine looks great! All linkages on the

carb and heat control are free and no sign of pot metal deterioration.

Has a clear handmade lexan cover on the float bowl that is kind of

strange but very well done.

I haven't pulled any rod caps off the 29 engine in the car but although

they seem decent on the rod journals at least 2 of the have .040"or

more side clearance,so it seems I have issues there too. The light springs

inside the oil pump on the 29 were corroded into pieces which is really

no surprise after seeing the condition of the oil and the fact that they

are such small diameter wire. I can likely come up with something to work,

but holler if you know any sources.



All thoughts or opinions are welcome.







Sludge in the pan...





Heat control/carb off 31 engine after a little cleaning...







31 carb Anybody know how to determine what model of Marvel carb this is?

I can probably help with oil pump spring if you can't find one closer than New Zealand!

TwinH,



An interesting thread for sure. I enjoy seeing this kind of stuff.



I'm not all that up on these early Essex cars but hope to learn some things.



1) Are the 29 / 30 / and 31 engine all that different from one another that you can't swap many things?



2) What the heck is a "Dizzy" ????????



Keep up the good work and educating some of us.

Ron

Oldcar_Mechanic wrote:

TwinH,



An interesting thread for sure. I enjoy seeing this kind of stuff.



I'm not all that up on these early Essex cars but hope to learn some things.



1) Are the 29 / 30 / and 31 engine all that different from one another that you can't swap many things?



2) What the heck is a "Dizzy" ????????



Keep up the good work and educating some of us.

Ron

The dizzy is the distributor



Mike



Mike

Engine got here fine and on time. Turns out it is a 1930 and not a 31 as

advertised.Perfect for the 30 coupe though. Broke it down and got it on

an engine stand yesterday. You may recall I bought the 30 coupe with a

29 motor in it sans carburetor and then found issues with the oil pump,

connecting rods,stuck rings and the fact that the intake elbow from the

1930 won't swap to the 29.

The 30 engine seems in better shape EXCEPT for a lot of pitting on the

rearmost (exh) lobe on the camshaft. Weird as all the other lobes look

just fine and the affected lobe is OK on the base circle but horribly pitted

on the opening and closing ramp. More fun in store I'm sure as I get farther

into it.



Engine arrives,









Teardown, note that the transmission tried to go all "Deepwater Horizon"

on me...







Abundance of mice/squirrel food in the water jackets...









cont...

Good question Steve. The answer is yes, but not without a lot of head scratching. I'll try and post up a pic tonight. Jeff

Here you go Steve,pretty tight around the crankshaft flange but it does fit

OK. Question,does the gray/green color in this pic look like the original color?

Getting ahead of myself,but who sells engine paint for Essex engines? Is it

the same as Hudson? I just haven't looked around yet,but figure there will

be knowledge here.











Off with the head! Had this actually ran I'm guessing it would have been on

the warm side. Who knows how much ditch water has gone through here

over the years. See that third water port?







Its a golf tee...







This extra hardware came out of the hose end of the water manifold.









cont...

The cylinder head nuts all came off quite easily with the impact gun and the

air turned down to 40psi. Wish I could say the same for the studs but I'm

sure I'll spend much more time on them. I've had luck before heating up the

cast and using candle wax to wick down into the threads. What is everybody

else's preferred method for removing studs that go into a water jacket?















All is going well,no ridge in the cylinders to speak off,THEN, I see this in the

#1 cylinder on the valve side... aargh,what the heck? Don't know what

caused this yet but would be interested in opinions. I'll pop the piston out

tomorrow and share the results. Interestingly there are no marks, grooves

etc below this. Hhhmmm.

Lester Harris of Minden Nevada has NOS pistons for the Essex - cast iron not ali. He's in the roster. Good prices & a helpful guy.

Don't use cast iron p0istons, they make the engine sluggish and harsh because of the extra weight, as they up set the orginal balancing.

Anybody have a special recipe or procedure for degreasing the block

without destroying the babbit?





The 29 engine/trans came out last weekend.

Will try and get some rear hub pics up tonight. Would love to hear more about
your roadster too.

Here's the pics I took tonight Mike. Let me know what your looking for
in the way of measurements. My front wheels are one piece drop center rims
and my rears are split ring Do you know if either of these wheels are original
to the Essex? Or how to identify an Essex wire wheel?
Cool story on the roadster. Glad you finally got the chance to own it!