Finally!! Good engine news!

#1

I had my local shop to a leakdown test on my 102k mi junkyard motor that seemed weak at CMP. And I have excellent news. #2 cylinder is in good shape.

And the other 5 are shot.

Sigh.

Leakdown #'s, <10% is apparently good.
90%
8%
42%
90%
90%
40%

#2

so were was it leaking ??
past the rings??
valves, intake or exhuast??
just out of curiosity did they do a compression test?? what were those #'s

#3

bdigel wrote:

[quote]so were was it leaking ??
past the rings??
valves, intake or exhuast??
just out of curiosity did they do a compression test?? what were those #'s[/quote]

The local shop said that the air was leaking past the exhaust valves. They could hear the air coming out of the exhaust pipe.

They did do a compression test, but the #'s don’t synch well with the leakdown test #'s. They said that compression tests are not as accurate as leakdown #'s because the “dynamic” nature of a compression test can skew the numbers.

I also did a compression test of this motor last week. It was the first time I’d done a compression test. I put the battery on a charger and ran the starter for ~10secs for each test and took the highest pressure for each cylinder. I kept testing each cylinder until I got the same answer twice, which to use cylinder 4 as an example, meant 6 tests.

So here’s all the numbers…

My compression test, their compression test, leakdown
138, 125, 90%
144, 135, 8%
143, 135, 42%
122, 140, 90%
140, 140, 90%
136, 130, 40%.

My local shop is a very good place. They are Euro oriented, but not race oriented. They might not know SpecE30, but they are entirely trustworthy and fair. In any conflict between my numbers and their’s, I’d go with their’s.

#4

Engine on a stand in your garage or basement, $800, several hours of your own time (and maybe some slight machine shop work) and you can have a beautiful new running engine.

OR

Back to the junkyard for another (better) cheap engine and GO!

#5

I’ll probably end up getting the Molitor head back into my hands on Wed, having a machine shop check it out, and then bolting it on to the Strictly German block and hoping for the best. If I was smart, I’d then go to Balanced Performance for a dyno check or at least do another leakdown before RA.

Re. back to the junkyard. Sounds easy. But if I went into all the logistics of what that would entail, I’d just sound like a whiner.

I figure I’m into this for $5k now. “Hope for the best” sticks in my craw. Is irksome.

#6

Good luck is bound to find itself your way sooner or later.