Thread: Compression is too high on my '71 460 Lincoln...

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Originally Posted by 71LincolnCoupe

Thank you all so much for your replys, and the sharing of your knowledge. The problem with the builder is that I was stupid for not having a written estimate of the cost of his work, and realizing 3/4 of the way in that the guy was a thief as well.

He said that he would pull my old motor, rebuild a core 460 for me, and put it back in the car for a thousand dollars, or less. This involved my helping out with some of the grunt labor to reduce cost. After a YEAR AND A HALF and numerous little things that made me rethink his stated motor-building experience, he presented me with a $2600 bill.

3/4 of the way I was dropping of some parts for him at his shop, and while standing around waiting for him, I noticed a hood scoop that looked a lot like mine sitting in the bed of his pickup. It had been in my trunk.

Sure enough, it was.

I retrieved it and put back in the trunk. I didn't want to confront him over it because my motor was sitting on his workbench in pieces. It wasn't until I finally got the car home that I realized that he had stolen my 5-volume factory 71 Lincoln manual set that was in the trunk too.

I did go back at him over that, but he totally denied taking them. The argument got heated, and he finally called the Police to get me to leave. The cops were sympathetic because I wasn't the first irate customer this shmo has had, but I couldn't prove anything.

So now there is no contact between us and no info coming either. I am going to take the advice given here and start out with new updated motor performance stats, and go from there. Thanks again.

well i hope you didn't pay his $2600 bill when he quoted you $1000 an stole your stuff.

i myself have a hard time trusting people with my stuff i don't make a whole lot of money an what i do own i worked for. i try to be nice an borrow stuff to friends but once i don't get something back or get screwed over pretty much ends it an if they ask to borrow somethin again i just bring up how i didn't get somethin back.

Which octane gas are you running in it when it seems to be detonating?

Heck, run some 118 through it and see if it pings.

yeah that'll tell you and it wont hurt anything really

Couldn't you just pop on a degree wheel, and put a magnetic base dial indicator on a rocker arm and determine the cam specs ?

The double stack head gasket fix sounds cheap and simple.

I had to pay to get my car back into my possession, and besides I didn't want him to get vindictive while he still had it in his shop, and do something like drop a bolt into the valve cover, or a handful of abrasive in the gas tank. I swallowed my anger paid to get my car back to someplace safe.

Since I was stupid enough not to get anything in writing, I knew that I had no leg to stand on if I ever took this guy to small claims court. A judge would say 'did you receive the car back after paying the bill?' - Well yes Sir, I did... 'does the car run?' - well sort of, but not correctly... 'can you prove he stole anything from you' - No Sir, I guess I cannot.

It would be either case dismissed for lack of evidence, or judgment for the defendant, and then I would have been out the costs of bringing the suit in the first place.

I did learn my lesson during this whole thing, and now everything labor-wise over a hundred bucks is done with a written estimate, or it doesn't get done.

Paul, I am running premium gas only, and he said the compression on the cylinders was right around 200 psi. I would like to stay away from changing carbs again because this one is brand new.

My other carb was an older 800cfm, and it always felt like it was too much. Everyone who drove the car said that it felt like it was bogging down really bad.

I apologize for not having harder data for you to look at, I have had some health downturns since originally asking about my 460 high compression issues back in the day, and so I am now trying to get this thing work well on a reduced budget.

I will try to set up a time with the car guy so he can go over everything one more time.

When you say the carb is "new", I have to ask how it was tuned? The problems Paul was refferring to regarding the carb settings possibly causing this, are spot on, and may very well be the culprit.

could get some .080 or .100 thousandths thick copper headgaskets

Originally Posted by gassersrule_196

could get some .080 or .100 thousandths thick copper headgaskets

That would lower the static compression ratio, but it would also increase the piston to head clearance (squish) and make the motor more prone to detonation than it was before the gasket change in my opinion. At 200 psi, this motor is a candidate for race fuel.

You may also Need Longer push rods ?

or he could go racing

Hell Gasser, at this stage in my life the only racing I'm doing anymore is trying to do is get to the john in time !

BTW, when the shmo/thief was putting my engine together he had the hardest time getting the pushrods to fit correctly. Some would seat like they should, but others were loose as a goose.

After advising me that the only thing to do was use adjustable aluminum roller rockers, which didn't solve the problem at all, he had to use an adjustable pushrod tool to find the right size for each cylinder.

Then he went thru the three previous sets of different sized pushrods we had already bought, and made up one complete set that fit.

Everyone I tell this too so far scratches their head in puzzlement when they hear about this, but the car has been driven quite a bit without eating itself yet.

How about that can of stuff they sell at wally world..........what is it in that little ole can? "112+ Octane Boost" LOL.......................

Posted by Lincoln:
"BTW, when the shmo/thief was putting my engine together he had the hardest time getting the pushrods to fit correctly. Some would seat like they should, but others were loose as a goose."

If the situation was progressively worse from one end of the head to the other, it's an indication that either the block deck was not parallel to the cam bore or the cylinder head was cut at an angle to the deck. If it was loose and tight with no particular order to it, then either the valves or pushrods were not the same lengths or the valves were not installed in the head at the same height (bad valve job).