Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

My7hp tcum snowking is burning oil I took off heads etc got my piston in hand look fine no scratch cylinder great too but ring are bad used compression is very low. OI know

my next door neighbor once changed his rings on his mower with his hand without cracking it? should I try this?

Hello Goldrush:

Yes, you can spread the rings by hand but it could lead to overspreading and possibly damaging it.  Everytime I have tried it I usually end up driving the end of the ring under my thumbnails and causing great pain.  One thing to check would be the side clearance of the ring to groove on the piston.  If the groove is excessively worn, a new ring may not solve your problem.  I once paid to have the engine in my 61 VW rebuilt, only to have it burn more oil than it did before the overhaul (1qt in 200 miles).  I tore the motor apart only to find this exact problem...worn pistons.  Replaced them and had no further problems.

bbwb

Wow, that's a lot of oil.

Ajace:

Between what was being burnt up in the cylinder, the pushrod tube seals also leaked, dripping oil on the the number 1 and 3 cylinder manifold.  During the winter, the air blown across the cylinder for cooling was directed into the passenger compartment for heat.  You guessed it, it got pretty smokey and stinky on my journey back to school.  One time I had to keep the windows rolled down to keep from suffocating.  After the second rebuild, I upgraded to the "fresh air system" that did not use the air blown across the cylinders, just the 1/3 exhaust manifolds.  .

I don't think that it affected me much....if any.....what were we discussing?

bbwb

Why risk it?  Go to a rent a tool place, or befriend a wrench at an OPE shop and buy him a case of beer and borrow his.  Tools are invented all the time to make a job easy as possible.   I have a couple prototypes hangin on my peg board that I created out of necessity over the years.  I put a major scratch in a chromed header pipe on my 68 H/O once, cause I was too lazy to go get a pry bar to raise the motor a tad when slidin pipe in.  I knew I needed it, but thought I could shortcut it.  No one ever notices the small rust line scratch about 10" in length except me, and I remember what I paid for those hooker's  to.   Stupid!! 

Bill_D wrote:
Hey Bill.........by hookers yer talkin about headers, aren't ya?

Yes, Hooker Headers.  Didnt think of that as I typoed, nice catch Emmo.

Goldrush - while I have been lucky performing ring installs by hand, I don't recommend it. Rent or purchase a ring expander for this task. You will also need a tool to insert the piston with it's new rings into the cylinder - I forget what its called by darned, but I actually own one (it IS 2am...)  All this will be useless if the cylinder walls aren't trued up - you could use a cylinder hone to clean up the walls, but if the bore is excessively worn at the top (think of a snow cone cup), then it needs to be bored to assure a perfectly parallel & uniform cylinder shape. Instead of renting all these tools & taking a chance, a short block assembly might be an easier & cheaper alternative. Just swap over all your old engine's incidentals (carb, ignition, head, flywheel etc).

Marty

Bill_D - you mentioned a 68 H/O - was this a Pontiac of some sort, or a Hurst/Olds? Those Hookers can be quite expensive regardless of make they're installed on, but the most expensive headers I've used were a custom set made from "Headers by Ed" out in the midwest ($900 for a pair!). These things wrapped around the frame on both sides & were an absolute NIGHTMARE to install - even had to remove the driver's side control arm & notch it for proper clearance on a 69 GTO stick shift car.

I don't miss performing header installations one bit...

Marty

Marty, You should his Hurst Olds, very very nice!

Bill, don't you still have a pic?

Hi Goldrush-

I rebuilt an H50 Tecumseh last winter and had a very good result. I attribute my positive experiense to a friend who had a tool that measured the inside of the cylinder from the top the to the bottom. He determined that all the cylinder needded was to be honed and that the new parts would be of stock size. Don't forget to put the new rings back in  the right sequence and make sure you check the end gap and to stagger the  gaps. I would definitely get the appropriate tools for the job! 

 I was able to borrow a hone, ring spreader and ring compressor and had a lot of fun doing the rebuild. The cost was about a hundred dollars because the reason for the rebuild was a broken connecting rod that fotunately did not go through the case. The changing of the rings was a function of having the engine open so why not?

If you feel other parts are are worn such as the valves or rod I would forego the rebuild and either get a shortblock or a replacement engine. One of the discount suppliers on the net had an eight horse L-head snow King for $269.00 last week. When I get finished typing this I will search it out and post!

Marc