I'm refreshing a 231 Massey that has a dusted engine. There are lots of aftermarket kits. The dealer recommended PowerMax. I got the kit and was pleasantly surprised to see it was from England, not China, etc. The parts were well-packed, look great, and spec out so far. Haven't installed anything yet, and if something turns out poorly I'll pass that along. The in frame kit was about $320 plus tax and shipping.
Report on PowerMax kit Perkins 152
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Mike476
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Look forward to hearing how it works out.
Dealer?
Well, I went out to put in liners this morning, thinking that 80 degrees sounded cool, but it was not. Plus, I made a serious error and chipped about an inch out of the first liner's flange so I quit. The sleeve went in easily for about 3/4s of the way by tapping on it with a hammer and 2x4. When it got harder I used a wooden ax handle laid across the top and hit that with the hammer. That was dumb. It chipped off a piece the width of the handle, of course. I will order another liner the morning and will use my homemade removal tool in reverse to "press" them in rather than pound on them. Or maybe use the dry ice/acetone freeze method....
I also found out that contrary to my belief I cannot replace the front and rear main bearings without pulling the engine.
I also found out that contrary to my belief I cannot replace the front and rear main bearings without pulling the engine.
Yes, the Massey dealer.
I was asking the name of the Massey dealer.
The kid
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MasseyWV said:
Try powermaxparts.com
Powermax got me my replacement liner delivered to my door in one day. It was packed very nicely. I've got my acetone, a dry ice source, and a small Igloo water jug, and I plan on going out in the cool morning and trying it again with less hammer and more brains. I haven't figured out if I'm supposed to lube the liner using this freeze method...that seems counter intuitive. The liner, once at -170, might just drop right in so I'm going to give that try first without much oil. I've also fabricated a puller out of all-thread and some steel so if I need some force it will be controlled.
Turned out the puller I made failed in service. But all sleeves are in, pistons and head back on and if I can figure out what's up with the valves I'll be firing it up this weekend.
The dry ice/acetone worked. I bought 5 lbs of dry ice, 2 would have done it. I put a few chunks in the 1/2 gallon cooler and added the acetone slowly and watched it bubble. Kept adding dry ice until the bubbling stopped and the chunks just sit there, which means its cold as its going to get. Then I slowly put the sleeve in. It was about 3/4 covered. Left it in about 15 minutes or so.
They did not just drop in but had to be driven in with a hammer and wood block. As I progressed I got more comfortable with driving them in and the third one took about 2/3rds less time than the first. Also, I wasn't sure about whether to put oil on the sleeve but concluded that probably not. I did wipe off the acetone with a towel on the 2nd and third and I think that helped too. Bottom line is that freezing did help. Total cost: dry ice $5, cooler $5, acetone $12 (can reuse) so $22.
The dry ice/acetone worked. I bought 5 lbs of dry ice, 2 would have done it. I put a few chunks in the 1/2 gallon cooler and added the acetone slowly and watched it bubble. Kept adding dry ice until the bubbling stopped and the chunks just sit there, which means its cold as its going to get. Then I slowly put the sleeve in. It was about 3/4 covered. Left it in about 15 minutes or so.
They did not just drop in but had to be driven in with a hammer and wood block. As I progressed I got more comfortable with driving them in and the third one took about 2/3rds less time than the first. Also, I wasn't sure about whether to put oil on the sleeve but concluded that probably not. I did wipe off the acetone with a towel on the 2nd and third and I think that helped too. Bottom line is that freezing did help. Total cost: dry ice $5, cooler $5, acetone $12 (can reuse) so $22.
Got everything buttoned up tonight and, to my great surprise, it started right up. Had one small leak at an injector that I'll fix but other than that I think I'm good to go, no funny noises and it purred. Of course it might fly apart later.
The smartest thing I did on this whole project was taking a bunch of pictures before I started and printing them out to use for reference. The dumbest thing was not pulling the engine and bringing it home to rebuild in the garage where I'd have a refrigerator full of beer. You can't really do a in-frame rebuild because you can't get to two of the mains without pulling the engine, even though the in-frame kit comes with the mains.
The smartest thing I did on this whole project was taking a bunch of pictures before I started and printing them out to use for reference. The dumbest thing was not pulling the engine and bringing it home to rebuild in the garage where I'd have a refrigerator full of beer. You can't really do a in-frame rebuild because you can't get to two of the mains without pulling the engine, even though the in-frame kit comes with the mains.
Mike476
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Glad it worked out, did you take any pics that you can post of your progress through the project?
Fridge full of beer is always a good thing, can turn a productive day into a spectator sport when friends pop by but a sport nonetheless.
Fridge full of beer is always a good thing, can turn a productive day into a spectator sport when friends pop by but a sport nonetheless.
The kid
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I like your thread on this teardown and rebuild. Not alot of talk about the weather, manuals, etc. Just info on what you did. Good job. Hopefully we'll see some of those pictures of you as you ice those sleeves. Thanks for sharing. -robert
Sorry, no pictures to post. I'm going to head out this afternoon and start putting on the accessories and maybe will get to the front end. My guess is getting the front end back on will be harder than getting it off. The front axle assemby is like trying to dance with a frog...pretty loosey goosey. I tried to jam some wedges in there per the book but that didn't help much...its got a bunch of extra weight too because of the loader bracket. Need to get my kid out there for a little extra muscle....
Got the front axle/radiator back on. It was clumsy and heavy. Probably really a two man job or easy with a cherry picker. A real long bolt, 9 inches or so, would have been useful in aligning and pulling the front to the pan. I ran into a little issue because of the top radiator hose was holding me up as was the fan belt. Should have left the belt loose. I just used my floor jack and jimmied it into place. It took some time, but I felt luck to get it done by myself.
I would have been better off if, after I started the motor to make sure it ran, to take off the gas tank again while putting on the front axle. It was in the way some and made it harder to hook up the top hose.
Got everything but the sheet metal on and started it up after filling the radiator with water. No leaks. All Good. Ran it up to the hydrant to wash some dirt off the radiator and as I got off it died. "Great....what now?" is what I was thinking....turned out I'd forgot to turn on the fuel at the tank. Easy fix. Back in business. Called it a day.
I would have been better off if, after I started the motor to make sure it ran, to take off the gas tank again while putting on the front axle. It was in the way some and made it harder to hook up the top hose.
Got everything but the sheet metal on and started it up after filling the radiator with water. No leaks. All Good. Ran it up to the hydrant to wash some dirt off the radiator and as I got off it died. "Great....what now?" is what I was thinking....turned out I'd forgot to turn on the fuel at the tank. Easy fix. Back in business. Called it a day.
Here's a tip - if you have a front end loader with a front-pulley shaft driven pump, it is a lot easier to bolt up the flange to the pulley as you are putting the front axle back on and not after...I figured there would be plenty of room to hook it up and didn't really think about it...so instead of taking about 3 minutes to hook it up,it took an hour and was very,very close quarters. It would almost have been easier to loosen up the front axle and back it off a couple of inches.
Took the tractor out today for some tilling. It ran great, no issues. I ran it at different engine speeds per the manual's break-in procedure, couldn't really put it under much of a load with a tiller, though. It has so much more power running on 3 good cylinders...It was really dry and dusty and everything got covered in fine dirt so it allowed me to check for leaks of fuel or oil. Nothing seen. I would not hesitate to do this job again, it really wasn't difficult even in rather primitive conditions. Like I said in an earlier post, and as someone suggested, it probably is just about as easy to take the engine out rather than doing an in-frame rebuild. Also, while I could have spent a lot more money, my problem was blow-by caused by dusting the engine due to a compromised air intake system. I didn't feel compelled to rework the head. I did replace all the radiator hoses and thermostat while I had it apart. Making sure the air filter system is working is tops on my list now so I don't dust the engine again.
Mike476
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Great to hear it's working well, nice job.
