Update on my 38 KTA

Tom RS

Member
Finally had a sunny and warmer day here in good old Wisconsin yesterday. (Friday) So I took a drive and spent the afternoon getting my KTA freed up so I can pull it onto a trailer in a couple weeks and transport it home.
So here's where things stand. Note I have had things sprayed up with liquid wrench and WD40, and put ATF-Paint Thinner combo in the cylinders for the past month.
The ice is drained from the gear box and final drives. Gear oil is more like oozing grease but considering the age and temperatures here still getting below zero, I'm not surprised.
All the tires are holding air.
I was able to get the clutch cone collar to move and the fingers to move so now the clutch works as it should and seems to hold tight when engaged.
The belt pulley now turns by hand.
I jacked up one rear wheel and I could turn it in N and in 3rd and second gear with the clutch out.
I greased all of the zerks, about a dozen.
Now to the engine:
I was able to get the fan adjuster to move and the bearings are good. Belt is on its last legs.
Mag advancer is still froze.
All carb linkage is free.
Removed the valve cover and I still have 3 sticky valves. A couple are stuck open some.
I scoped the cylinders through the plug holes and found why she's stuck. The No. 1 piston looks pretty crusty and the walls look orange-ish. The others looked ok with only a possible lt rust. Hard to tell for sure with the probe camera. The valves that are sticking correspond to the stuck piston.
So I've decided to NOT try cranking it anymore. Even if it would free up its going to take that crust and do more damage than good. So the head needs to come off and I will probably be pounding on the No. 1 piston to free it. I'm hoping to clean things up enough with just the No. 1 piston but removing the head will reveal the true condition of the rest.
Will also see if a valve job is needed when the head is off the block.
One mystery remains: I loosened the oil pan drain plug again to check if there was any more water. I thought I had it all drained during my last trip but I got water again. So I don't know yet where that's coming from.
Oh - also removed the mouse nest from the clutch chamber.
So at least it now will roll so it can be loaded.
Question - does anyone know where I can find a copy (or original) sales brochure? Looks like it has some nice cutaway photos.



cvphoto121914.jpg
 


That will be a nice one once you get it running!!

Did the new pan water seem like coolant? Or fresh?
 
It was fresh, no coolant color or feel.
The previous water drained had the color of coolant in it.
 
In Wisconsin, I'm not surprised there was some more water coming out.
The fun putzing to get the last things loosened up.
And your tires hold air! Big naughty looking rear tires to boot.
There's a lot of punch in that little package. Wish my KT was in better condition.
Books: Try jensales or the manual store. I use themanualstore as they're a couple bucks cheaper usually.
Nice lookin' K!
 
You probably know this, but the straight cylinder block and head is the same used up until 1946. I bored my KT out to 4 3/8 and used a HC head. Didnt start out to do that, but what I had at the time. Now that I have a boring bar I would sleeve the cylinders and hone them to whatever piston I was using.
 

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