VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Ring Job Needed?

Coming back from the old Packard Proving Grounds Sunday I was told the Chevy is emitting blue smoke out the tailpipes. A compression check a month or so ago showed approx. 125 reading on all cylinders (dry). What else could cause this smoking? Or maybe the compression test doesn't give you the whole story. The car does use oil (also marks his territory a little) and I'm hearing a suspicious sound like a rod knock just starting to appear at certain RPM. I'm up for a certain amount of rebuilding, but this is one of those engines with the thin casting water seepage on the left rear of the block, so I don't know about investing in this engine. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dean

The 125 pounds of compression only indicate the valves and compression rings are good. The oil rings may have lost their tension or the oil return holes in the rings and pistons are plugged with carbon.
Not sure about what you mean be the "thin casting"...?
The cure would be to rebuild/overhaul the engine or add oil.

Thanks Gene,
Someone (I thought it was you)posted a while back here or on CT that some of the early 1950 engines had problems with coolant seeping through the block from the left rear near the petcock area so that the block always looked wet there. That's what this car has. I certainly plan to maintain the car, I'd just rather swap engines instead of putting time and $ into this engine if it's going to get worse in the coolant leaking department.

Wasn't me and I never saw the problem when they were new.....or later.

Sorry Gene,
Whoever it was gave the reply that this was the low point of the cooling system and sometimes they would rust from the inside out, and that area of the cooling system was redesigned in 1950. The advice was to add Aluma-Seal or BarsLeak.
When changing the rings, do you rework the head as a matter of course?
Thanks
Dean

If it were my car I would give it a good old fashioned overhaul job the way we did it years ago. First you have to check the condition of the crankshaft journals and the cylinder walls. If they have no major problems the overhaul would be inorder.
First, yes, grind the valves. Hardened seats are not necessary. Just a good professional valve job. These engines usually required a valve job every 40,000 miles or so.
Replace the piston rings, fit new piston (wrist) pins, adjust rod and main bearings. You will need a cylinder ridge reamer, piston ring compressor and a cylinder hone (deglazer) The ridge reamer can be rented and the other two are "cheap".
While apart would replace the timing gear as it is the most common major engine failure when thse engines get older.
Chances are the engine has already been overhauled or rebuilt at least once in its life.
The engine number would determine if it is an early block.

Thank very much Gene.
The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking I'll do it anyway.
Engine number is HAAI009005 - Body Tag info:
Style 50-1011
Body No. S 27099
Trim No.171
Paint No. 423
Cowl Tag info: 3 HK H 127248

Thanks again,
Dean

The car was assembled in July of 1950. 1950 engine numbers ranged from 1001 through 1320157 so you have a midto late year car. The car was assembled in St.Louis.....Lower Mich. cars all came from Flint.
IT was not unusual for these engines to use a Qt. in 300 miles at your milage and not leak or smoke - if the cars were driven slow most of the time. The highway cars had engines that lasted much longer. I would say with todays oils all would have been good for 100,000 miles. It was common for the oil return holes in the piston rings groves to cake up with carbon as welll as the slot in the oil ring.
My '50 PG now has 55,000 miles on it and uses about a Qt in 1200 miles. Most of the miles have been put on since 1980 when the oils were much better as far as detergents ae concerned. When they were new they generally averaged about a Qt in 1500 to 2000 miles.

That's good to know Gene. I do mostly street driving but the car is really comfy at around 50-55 MPH. It came to Michgan from Oklahoma and I've had it 3-1/2 years. I'll be checking it out soon and if it's smoking I guess I should do the overhaul anyway. I plan on keeping it for some time and want it to be right.
Thanks again,
Dean

Dean50 - before you start rebuilding the engine ...

1) - Are you still using the oil bath air cleaner?
2) - Is the blue smoke only evident on acceleration?

If you answer yes to both questions, you are might be using too light an oil in the oil bath air cleaner. IF that's the case, clean it out and refill it with SAE 50 oil. That should do the trick.

Cheers ~ 53 Rags

#1 - Yes
#2 - No,
the car smokes a little all the time. I can't really see a lot of smoke but friends behind me on the road say it does. And they can smell the oil when riding in the car.(I can't). The 216 is tired, has developed a rod knock and also has a crack in the block where coolant seeps out. I have luckily found a '54 235 Powerglide from a VCCA Member and that engine will be rebuilt for the '50.
Thanks , 53Rags, for the suggestion.

Dean