SoCal Atomic 4 rebuild

[paul culver]

I have two opinions that leakage around one or more intake valve guides is causing the white smoke and filmy sheen coming out my exhaust and that I'll need a rebuild. While I'd like to go with Moyer, the shipping costs are hefty. There's a guy named Terry Brown in Huntington Beach who sells A-4 rebuilds. Anyone know of him? He advertises in The Log. Is there anyone else in SoCal doing rebuilds you can recommend?

Of course I'd also be happy to hear of any alternative diagnosis you might suggest, especially if it saves some dough.

Thanks

Paul
E29 "Bear"

 

[Matey]

Paul,

I would register and post your symptoms to the Atomic 4 community at ..
http://www.moyermarine.com//forums/index.php

They are a really helpful group of guys and will give some another opinion(s).
I pulled my A4 with my rig and went through it. If I can be of help, let me know

Regards, Greg

 

[tenders]

I highly doubt that you would need an entire rebuild just on the basis of the valves; those can be cleaned out, re-sprung, and reseated.

But if you need more, I think Buck Anderson still does rebuilds. He did mine in 1993 and it's still running strong. He now lives in Barstow but has some arrangement by which he brings a rebuilt engine to you and takes away your old one.

Edit: sorry, forgot to include Buck's contact info: 760-267-4512 cell, 760-253-1924 home

 

[paul culver]

Thanks for the feedback on the guy in Barstow and the offer of advice. I am getting help from Moyer by phone on step by step analysis of this problem. Its refreshing that a guy who sells rebuilds is doing everything he can to prevent me from having to buy a rebuild. I'll let you know how things develop.

Paul
E29 Bear

 

[Dave Neptune]

Mmi

Paul, I'm sort of new here as I have been off this site for a few years. The white smoke and the oil sheen are probably not related to the valve guides as the A-4 is a flathead. How do the plugs look? How much oil are you burning?
I am a regular on the MMI site and can recomend many alternatives. My A-4 is 40 years old and it is still the original motor, in my 35MKII. I have a mooring at Catalina and use it almost every other weekend March ~October and do a lot of motoring over in the mornings~~lotsa hours.

Dave Neptune

 

[paul culver]

Thanks much for replying Dave. The plugs have a light carbon coating which a guy at the dock said looked normal for an A4 in his experience. Oil in the pan looks normal, and I burned only about 1/4 down the dipstick from full in about 40 hours of motoring on my annual week long summer trip. Moyer had me do a thumbtip compression test and all four cylinders blew past my thumb. He's asked me to disable the PVC valve to see if that makes a difference and I'll check that this weekend.

Overall the engine has been starting and running well, even with the smoke and sheen. I did have one incident where it would not start on my way back into the harbor, though it cranked fine. I got a tow to my dock, checked the ignition wiring at the engine control panel and the engine ends, found nothing loose, and then it started up just fine (??). That was before the week-long trip and I had no problems during that trip.

The white smoke and sheen thing started immediately after I added about 4 ounces of Marvel Mystery to the 8 gals of gas remaining in my tank, since I forgot to do it at the last fill-up. I've been adding the stuff for years so this is probably coincidence but I'm passing it on anyway in case its a clue.

Paul
E29 "Bear"

 

[Dave Neptune]

Plugs

Paul, what plugs are you using? Mine always are clean and a bit of a chocolate color. The sooty apperance can be from a rich idle mix and/or elivated back preassure due to the exhaust plugging up a bit.
Do try dissabling the PVC however it is a bit doubtful that it is the culprit as you don't seem to be using (burning) an excessive amount of oil, actually less than mine.
You can also try opening the idle mixture screw about a 1/4 turn open (leaner) and if that helps try another 1/4 turn which may be to lean at that point. The rule of thumb on these A-4's is about 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 turns off the seat.
Have you ever done the timing adjustment? It may help if it's been a while. How long since the last tune up? Are you still using the stock ignition set up?

Dave Neptune

 

[paul culver]

Here's the latest update. Went to check out the various suggestions this weekend and thought I'd start the engine before doing anything. It fired right up and ran fine -- NO smoke and oily sheen from the exhaust. In probing around the engine I noticed oil seeping out of the loose junction between the flame arrestor and the carburetor. It looked more like Marvel Mystery oil than my engine oil. All I can guess now is that when I started the engine immediately after adding the Marvel to the gas tank I drew a plug of the oil into the carburetor. Then over time it got diluted and mixed with the gas. Hope I'm right, but time will tell.

Paul
E29 "Bear"