Stupid question about dirt and gunk

[browning]

I purchased a pile of T parts just for the heck of it, sort of a grab bag thing and my grandson picked them up and delivered them to me yesterday. There was a quite an assortment of pretty good stuff including a late (26-27) flywheel with a complete transmission. I think it must be the dirtiest transmission I ever dismantled - not just oil and the usual dirt but the kind that is caked on so tight it has to be scraped hard to get off. I spent most of the day getting it apart and cleaned. Underneath all that crud I found almost perfect drums, good bushings, and pristine triple gears and pins. I think I can balance it and return it to service with almost no replacement parts. What a surprise! Now this is the question. Do you think it is possible that much of that welded on dirt might have helped to bring the assembly into balance in the same way that balancing beads operate in a tire. Doesn’t seem likely but doesn’t seem impossible either.

[Wayne Sheldon]

I doubt that the dirt would have helped with the balance at all. However it is possible.
It has always amazed me that some of the worst looking filthy rusty frozen junk looking parts turn out to be the best parts you ever find! Some years back I bought a late 1915 engine short block. It was out of a hobbyist's estate sale, and one of the last pieces to sell. It had been through several local sales and a half dozen swap meets. Nobody wanted it. It was thoroughly encrusted with oil and dirt inside and out, and had mismatched connecting rods, it looked horrible. I knew the fellow selling the stuff for the family, and he offered it to me for a very nice price because it was the end of the day at yet another swap meet it hadn't sold at. I needed a 1915 engine, the one I had wasn't very good, so I figured I should give it a shot.
It took nearly two days to chisel the gunk off and wash the thing about five times to get it cleaned up.
What I found was an old rebuild that apparently the old time shop hadn't bothered to clean much. The crankshaft was perfect. All the main bearings looked perfect, and even still needed a couple shims in them. The timing gears looked new, the camshaft, lifters and on was as snice as I had ever found.
I think the oil and dirt on the outside had been baked on when the block was heated to redo the main bearings! I had to use a hammer and chisel to chip that stuff off!

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

In answer to your question: No.

Being a late flywheel, as you described it, you may find that it's fully machined, making it fairly well balanced already. At least without the addition of magnets, etc.

[TXGOAT2]

The car probably belonged to a little old lady in Baraboo who only drove it to church on Sunday, or perhaps it belonged to that little old farm widow who only drove her car a few hundred feet to the mailbox in winter. No wear; massive sludging.

Change the oil? My goodness, NO! Too expensive, and besides, I never really go anywhere!

[John kuehn]

Wayne, reading your story of the gunked up and hardened up oil and dirt encrusted engine is good to hear! Those are the kind of old motors that I love to clean up and see what’s going on under it all!
Sounds like you got a good one. Being raised on a farm we worked on old parts and motors with no steam cleaner or pressure washer other than a water hose hooked up to our out side water faucet.
I used kerosene and sometimes gasoline along with screwdrivers and wood chisels for scrapers to get the crud to get the majority off. After a few washings with the water hose out side in the sun it got things pretty clean.
There was a old car enthusiast in town who wouldn’t touch so called junk T motors. In his mind it was just junk. But not me! Thanks for the great story!