More About Moose

[Moose]

since l last wrote about the trials and travails of my B 61 l have found out a lot more about repairing moose than l wanted to. after the last post l painted her up and thought the battle was over. l put plates and insurance on it and took her to get inspected she started to skip and smoke on the way and while in the garage discovered not firing on # 6. back home (total trip 2 miles ) l found no compression on that cyl. After pulling rear head l discovered exhaust valve eaten away under the hard surface face until you could see through. L then iscovered #4 had the same problem but for some reason was still firing. Also l found that there was no oil going to the rocker shaft on the back head. l eventually did a complete re build on both heads and devised an outside oiler setup for the rocker shaft by running a one eighth line from the luberfiner fitting to the valve cover cap screw which l drilled to admit oil to the bracket and shaft. L had posed a question on the forum about how to solve this problem but never got any replies. l am pretty sure that #5 cam bearing had spun and shut off oil flow. Once l had it all back together it ran like a champ and still had 60 pounds cold and 40 pounds hot oil pressure. l just recently put on fuel tank #4 (the first three l cleaned and sealed but they still leaked that precious fuel) on the way back from getting fuel the engine began to lose power and when l pushed in the clutch it seized. Now l have ppan off and rear main has spun. I am getting about 2 miles per repair, forget the miles per gallon. The thrill is beginning to wear off. I have done mechanic work most of my life ( l am 61 ) and never got onto a project like this one-----more later

[mackmixer]

How did your oil pan and the oil pump pickup screen look?

Sounds like a build up of hardened sludge in the engine that is breaking loose after the engine has been sitting up for a long time. I have seen it coated in oil galleries on gasoline engines. Without oil in these passages for a period of time the oil deposits will harden and dry out and then will break loose in chunks like mud when fresh oil is circulated through the passages again. Goes right to your bearings and causes blockage and seizing and of course will block oil flow to upper valve train.

The only real solution is a complete engine teardown with block cleaning and rodding of all oil passages.

Back in the old days before high detergent oils, the 50's Fords V8's Y blocks could be fitted with outside oiling lines to each head similar to what you did with your Mack. That helped get a few more miles out of them.

[skip]

since l last wrote about the trials and travails of my B 61 l have found out a lot more about repairing moose than l wanted to. after the last post l painted her up and thought the battle was over. l put plates and insurance on it and took her to get inspected she started to skip and smoke on the way and while in the garage discovered not firing on # 6. back home (total trip 2 miles ) l found no compression on that cyl. After pulling rear head l discovered exhaust valve eaten away under the hard surface face until you could see through. L then iscovered #4 had the same problem but for some reason was still firing. Also l found that there was no oil going to the rocker shaft on the back head. l eventually did a complete re build on both heads and devised an outside oiler setup for the rocker shaft by running a one eighth line from the luberfiner fitting to the valve cover cap screw which l drilled to admit oil to the bracket and shaft. L had posed a question on the forum about how to solve this problem but never got any replies. l am pretty sure that #5 cam bearing had spun and shut off oil flow. Once l had it all back together it ran like a champ and still had 60 pounds cold and 40 pounds hot oil pressure. l just recently put on fuel tank #4 (the first three l cleaned and sealed but they still leaked that precious fuel) on the way back from getting fuel the engine began to lose power and when l pushed in the clutch it seized. Now l have ppan off and rear main has spun. I am getting about 2 miles per repair, forget the miles per gallon. The thrill is beginning to wear off. I have done mechanic work most of my life ( l am 61 ) and never got onto a project like this one-----more later

Gday moose. Doesnt sound like youre goin too well. I can sympathise a little, maybe not to your extent though. I bought an R615 still with the END864 in it- a bit of a colloectors item out here. It wouldnt fire up for me, but with ether it would go start and run like a dream. It had good oil pressure and didnt breathe heavily. I got it home and did an oil change only to find water in the oil. It had been sitting for a long time so I put a couple of lots of oil back in it and flushed it. This appeared to be working until I tried to start it for a 4th time and the starter jammed, or so I thought. Thinking it had hydraulic locked i removed injectors and tried to remove any fluid from the liner. It didnt move. I removed the sump and in doing so discovered a crack and a piece chipped out of the back of the block, hidden by the starter motor. Then once the sump was off I found it had picked up a main and locked up. The engine is out now and the crank has been ground and block repaired. I got the fuel pump checked and its buggered. Its a rotary and nearly impossible to find replacement parts for. You cant beat old trucks! If it were anything else but a Mack I wouldve gone mad by now. Stick with it mate, hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel isnt an oncoming train! Cheers

[b61fred]

I have found that b engines are quite plentful, I think for all the trouble you are having you could get a good runner engine off of someone here that has upgraded to a bigger engine. I have a 673 in my b 61, it runs very well but dosen't have a whole lot of power. 170 hp just don't get the dual tandem rolling very quick. I am going to install a 237 or ??? in it just for the extra horsepower.

Fred

[Freightrain]

Sorry to hear about the problems moose. Like mentioned, sounds like it's just gunno keep failing til you strip it and start fresh.

Like Fred mentioned, if you want originality, these old motors should be plentiful to find. I'd love to find something "bigger" for my truck as I use it regularly and a bit more power would be really nice. Love to find a new home for mine to offset the costs IF and WHEN I did find a motor.

Skip, a fellow bought an F model with V8 off Ebay last year. I actually looked at the truck for Terry(on the board here) and it ran great(couldn't drive it though). It's back on Ebay, motor is blown up. Seems the new owner got it home and it came apart taking it off his trailer? Ouch!