Ready to get down to business....have questions

I haven't posted in a while. I was taking apart my Grandad's '40 Farmall B a while back ready for an engine overhaul. The death of my father and lack of cash set me back a while. Now, I'm ready to give it a whirl. Here's what I have so far:

Tractor is split, engine pulled, do not have crankshaft out yet. Need new valve guides installed. Governor needs rebuilt, the bearing inside fell apart. Don't know the status of the starter, magneto, or generator. Need to clean out radiator. Don't know status of the camshaft, push rods were rusted stuck but came out fairly easily, think I have some cleaning to do and checking.

First things first:

Obviously I need a valve job and guides, should I have the head shaved? If so, by how much? Do I buy the valve guides or does the machinist? I already have new valves.

Do I need to have the block shaved?

I need a rebuild kit. Should I have the crankshaft turned and ground? If so, will the machinist determine how much to grind the crankshaft according to bearing size? What size bearings to shoot for?

What type pistons to order: flat or cratered? This will be a working tractor.

I'm learning on the fly as you can tell....any advice would be a big help!

The head and crank should be taken to a machine shop they can rebuild the head and grind the crank and have bearings for it when its ground. Mite as well get the hi-dome sleeves and pistons. Get the starter and generator refreshed by a shop tht does them. Pull a sleeve so you can have the measurements of it before getting new ones as you do not know what is in there now. You should expect new sleeves and pistons kit to cost around 250 check prices as they do vary quite some.

Depends on the engine shop. They may want you to provide the parts. They may be willing to use parts you provide. They may insist on ordering the parts themselves so they know they're getting the right parts (and get a cut of the parts money too).

That last bit may work in your favor. Sometimes an engine shop will cut you a little break on the parts because you're getting the work done there.

Whatever you do, do it all or nothing. Don't provide them with half the parts.

It would be good to have the head surface to true it up, but you want to remove the minimum amount of material. The amount will be determined by how warped or not the head is.

DO replace those tired old valve springs!

If the block is surfaced, the counterbore for the sleeve flange will need to be lowered a bit as well. So the answer is only if it needs it. The machine shop should be able to check this out.

The crank will need to have journals measured for out of round and taper. If they are in limits then grinding is not necessary. They can polish out light scratches w/o doing a full grind. If they are out of tolerance then the shop will see what bearings are available that require the minimum amount of grinding. The size to shoot for is whatever requires the least material removal.

Whether you or the shop supply various parts you will have to work out with them. In this area we have performance automotive types that don't have good resources to find tractor parts but could do the machining. We also have one good shop that avoids automotive and specializes in heavy diesel and industrial work. They can find any odd sleeve, bearing or whatever. A shop like that can supply all parts if necessary and sometimes get them cheaper even with their cut.

Talk to several shops if you have the option. You want a shop that cares. Ask around and see who does good work. Talk to farmers, independent truck owners, anyone who owns equipment that they might have rebuilt rather than replaced.

If you are gong into it that far do every thing. I would also do cam bearing and with engine out go through the clutch.

Just a reminder, 113, 123, and other engines in that series do not have cam bearings.

Ok I should have said cam bushings instead of bearings. To me a bushing does the same thing as a bearing.

No bushings either. I have heard of a few blocks where the front camshaft bore is worn and a machine shop can bore it and install a bushing. Later blocks of that generation block did use a bushing in front bore.

No bushings either, the cam rides in cast bores!! Jim

I have had the best luck, with IH, pistons kits. And like the other guy said replace the valve springs too.

My 1947 Farmall B is one of the last 125 B's built and has C block in it. This tractor has been in family from day one. Engine has been rebuilt four times that I know of in it life. The last time I did it with help from IH dealer ( did machining that I wasn't equipted to do) and was told if cam was wore that we would take block to machine shop and they would bore it and insert bushings and line bore them for a new cam. It didn't need that done but if I rebuild it again I will do that. The kit I put in the engine was the over size IH Fire Crater Kit and thats been over 30 years ago and is the best overhaul kit of all the kits we used.

Dont forget to recondition the rods and the oil
pump bottom

Ok. I have decided to start with the head. For the valve guides the parts shown look like these:
http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/Farmall-B_Valve-Guide_356583R21.html

The ones that are currently installed have a step on them, while the ones pictured are smooth. I guess the smooth ones will work too?

The step in the old guides may be from being reworked to install valve stem seals.

On the rebuild I did on my '54 100 I had the crank turned and the head resurfaced. I already had my parts so I had the shop put my head together so all I had to do was set it on the block. I did not fool with resurfacing the block. I did take the block to the shop and have them clean it. And yes, I got me a strong engine. Let out on the clutch too fast and it'll hop like a frog.

(quoted from post at 18:49:40 09/18/14) The step in the old guides may be from being reworked to install valve stem seals.

Click to expand...

I hadn't thought of that. I wonder if I will need valve stem seals or are they only put on worn valve guides?

Take the head to a reputable shop, only shave as much off as needed to make it flat. Be careful what you do to it, can sink a LOT of money making it PERFECT.

I would go with crater fire pistons, very little extra cost, a lot more performance.

Get your crank cleaned up BEFORE ordering any parts.

I would have the rods checked for out of round.

Blackriver,
No need to go over board here, its easy to get buried in this project. Don't forget that you are dealing with a 75yr old tractor that has a slow turning engine. It is not a racing engine or a swiss watch. It will probably not see much work the rest of it's life either.
Have fun with your project
Dennis