Hi
I have noticed that when i was going up hills on my e27n there was a lack of power and in some cases i have had to change down a gear. It was breathing a little through the oil filler cap so i decided to strip the engine down which i have done. On stripping it down the bores are in very good nick and the pistons have new ring on i think that someone tryed to solve the problem of the lack of power before and was unable to. so i thought i would regrinde the valves in and i have check them first and they are no were near 0.24" gap and 2 of them are allmost 1/4" gap between the cam follower and the valve. So would this be a reason for my lack of power ???? how has this come about has it just worn them selfs away over the last 63 years and is there any way of ajusting them?? thanks Andrew
The real gap might be even greater, due to wear of the cam follower. That can be 0,25 mm to in some cases.
Having to much valve clearance will cause bad inhalation and exhausting, due to reduced opening times. How much effect this has on these engines I can not good decide to be honest. I would try to check fuel supply and ignition first. These are easier to check and correct.
Adjusting the valves on the E27N is a strange operation. To much play is corrected by grinding in the valves deeper. To little is corrected by shortening the valve stem.
If you decide to regrind the valves, start with cutting the seats and valves in the correct angle, then grind them in to ensure a good seal. If you still have to much valve play, then I would fit new cam followers first before trying the get in these valves deeper.
If you have 1/4 inch clearance on some of your valves that will be a big problem. My fordson manual gives the valve lift as being only 5/16 inch which would leave only 1/16 inch lift. The proper clearance should be between 0.024 and 0.020 inch clearance. You can't grind valves that far, so I would check the cam and the followers. At least make sure that you are getting 5/16 inch lift on each lifter. You can do that without pulling the cam out just by measuring how much the lifters move up when you turn the motor over by hand. If any are less than spec you will have to pull out the cam and check the cam and lifters for damage.
If the lift is OK it may just be that someone dropped a zero when they set the clearances and probably costed you a new set of valves. The valve clearance is increased by grinding off the end of the valve which is pretty much a one way exercise, you can close the clearance a little by lapping in the valve a little more, but that is only good for a few thou. At least valves are easy to replace and are easy to get from places like old 20.
Another check you can do is measure the distance from the end of the collet groove to the tip of the valve, a new valve measures nearly 7/16 inch with a total valve length just under 7 inches. That should give a quick indication if the valve has had lots ground off the end or if something has gone wrong with the cam or lifters. Good luck.
Regards, Frank.
Real tractors don't need tin work to be beautiful.
From what you describe, I would be inclined to think that the previous owner may be the culprit by grinding too much from the valve stem. I have never come across a totally worn out lifter. The usual wear to them is from the valve stem continually hitting the lifter, and this can wear a dip in the centre of the lifter.
You ask about adjustable lifters and while Ford didn't make them a SV Dodge Truck Engine lifter will fit. Also, the lifter from a Willys Jeep. This information was given many years ago by the Fordson Club of USA.
When you say the tractor loses power going up hill, it sounds a bit like your Governors are not working. When the engine starts to labour you should be able to hear them cut in and the engine will repsond.
Hi
Thanks for your replys there is some good info there I will have a mesure and go from there. I know that my govnors are working ok as i have restored them with new parts and they do kick in when i go up hill. I have watched them to see if they was working even with the throttle open it dos start to struggle a little to easly and i think that this could be to do with the valve gap being to big ?
Not wishing to be rude here . But has anybody thought this tractor is only 27hp. we dont know how big the hill is and if it has a high top gear or not. yes the valves could be at fault but half of us are used to modern motors with high rpm and loads of horsepower.
Regards Robert
Hi Tractor Kid
If your valve clearance is too large this may have been caused by a previous owner grinding too much off the valve stems.
I know its not 'best engineering practice' but try putting a 'blob of weld' on the end of the faulty valves & grinding this back to the correct clearance (repeat if necessary).
This would be no good for a 'daily use' tractor, but a useful stopgap for a show tractor that is not run very often.
Hope this helps
Regards
Tony
Greetings
You may be right there Anthony I discussed this with one of my work mates who previously spent 20 years as a welder/fitter in Scotland and Perth Western Australia. Jim said it was a common practise to weld something like a bucket tooth, or gear tooth with hardened steel 'hard surfacing' welding rods and grind the part back to shape. He feels it would be suitable for your valve stems. The special rod has the materials required. Perhaps someone else who is familiar with this process and can comment. I certainly would not repair a modern machine that worked every day in this manner but it may be suited to the needs of the old girl.
Way back in the 1960's we used to service Bedford petrol bus engines. The valves were not available so when one of the exhaust valves burnt out, we used to run a bead of weld around the head and reface it back to specifications. I spent hours on the Van Dorm valve facer.
The repaired valves lasted equally as long as the original units.
I think the rods used were called "Stellite" but this is from memory of nearly 50 years ago.
Fordson Tractor Pages, now officially linked to: Fordson Tractor Club of Australia, Ford and Fordson Association and Blue Force.
Brian
Greetings I have pasted this from the Deloro Stellite site as it describes what seems to be the applicable welding rod. It certainly sounds right.
Typical Hardness:
40 Rockwell “C”
Typical Applications:
STELLITE® 6 is the most generally useful cobalt alloy, having excellent resistance to many forms of mechanical and chemical degradation over a wide temperature range. Particular attributes are its outstanding self-mated anti-galling properties, which result in its wide use as a valve seat material, high temperature hardness, and a high resistance to cavitation erosion. The alloy is ideally suited to a variety of hardfacing processes.
gap between the cam follower and the valve. So would this be a reason for my lack of power ???? how has this come about has it just worn them selfs away over the last 63 years and is there any way of ajusting them?? thanks Andrew
