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M - Head/valve differences

N

Ncarolinasailor

Member
I have seen different valve kits. How do I know what type of head I have? The original manifold had the rectangular distillate exhaust and there is the separate starting tank and stepped pistons. Is this a distillate head? Do I use high compression valves since it has stepped pistons?
 
i would let the machinist look after that, as i dont think you are grinding your own valves and seats. its probably the ordinary 8060 head and if it has high compression pistons the engine is not original. dont think there is a difference in valves till you get to the model 400. have you looked for the head number?? that will tell you what you have.
 
You need valves for a kerosene head that cross or match IH number 48958D intake and 48959DA exhaust. Gas ones will be to long. 8704DA is a kerosene head.
 
There were 3 heads for the Farmall M, one for gasoline (70 or higher octane), one for distillate and one for kerosene. The kerosene head had the lowest compression ratio 4.4:1, the distillate head had slightly? higher compression ratio about 4.6:1 and the gasoline head was about 5.6:1
 
Correct on three different heads and they all take different length valves. If you find a IH part number on any valve you will know what ones to order and what head you have. It could very well have been changed over the years.
 
Is it worth it to build up an old DA (Distillate) head I have instead of the kerosene head? The stepped pistons probably helped a bit with the low compression but I don't know if the slight advantage in the DA head would be worth a head that may need a lot more work.
 
(quoted from post at 05:07:29 07/26/17) I agree, let the machinist get your parts.
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Yes. Let the machinist get the parts. What he can get is most likely of better quality than what the average do-it-yourselfer can get.
 
(quoted from post at 08:27:55 07/26/17) Is it worth it to build up an old DA (Distillate) head I have instead of the kerosene head? The stepped pistons probably helped a bit with the low compression but I don't know if the slight advantage in the DA head would be worth a head that may need a lot more work.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't waste the effort on a distillate head. If you want to change heads, looks for a gasoline or even better an LP head. There are reproduction LP heads made now, but you may not like the cost if you are trying to do this really cheap.
 
Don't take this the wrong way. If you want to fix the tractor that's great. But from experience even if the tractor was free in condition pictured in another post. You can buy a decent M for less than you will spend fixing that one. Probably including shipping if needing to find one out of NC.
 
D - You are totally right. I am fixing it for two reasons - 1 I don't have a lot of money at one time. I have a wife and two twin toddlers so if I ever had more than a few hundred bucks it would evaporate into some bill, something that needs to be done around the house or something for the babies. 2 - I want to work on it and don't have any pressing need for it to be done so if it takes me three years ah well.
 
You didn't mention if you were changing the pistons or not. Something I ran into during an overhaul on a dist. headed M was that the new pistons were too tall. I had to re-ring the old pistons.
 
Dave, Were there flat pistons before? I had planned on using new pistons as well though the kerosene head might have more clearance (lower compression than dist. head). There are already stepped pistons in it (must have upgraded at some point). There was a lot of rust in the # 3 cylinder so hopefully I don't have to use this set.
 
It's been several years since that. I'm thinking that the pistons I reused were flat, the replacements that we ordered were a high altitude set with about a 5/8" raise to get more compression in the combustion chamber. I want to say they were for 5000 ft. for a gasoline engine. Good luck with it. Something else to stick in the back of your mind is that a Distillate M was rated about 3 and a half HP lower than a gasoline M straight out of the factory. Not really enough to be noticeable unless you are using it really hard.
 
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