MH44 EFI teardown

There are 4 issues that I am going after.

The first is that the engine smokes pretty good when it starts, and has more blowby than I like. The cylinders are glazed pretty good, which I assume is due to the farting around getting the fuel injection working after the overhaul. I am going to pull the pistons, hone and reinstall. I would also like to see if I can install valve seals because it looks like there is a little going down them. I got the head loose and blocked up, will lift it off with hoist in the morning.

The second issue has been a leaking head gasket, and I think I found the reason. I had a stripped head stud, so I replaced them all with ARP studs. The original studs were larger and kind of seated into the block surface. The new ones just ran out of threads and did not seat like that. I now have a spare block, so will probably pull the studs out of that and use them. I got a quote from Fastenal for $250 to make a set of studs, so could chose that depending on how much time I want to spend.

The third issue is the rear main seal leaks. I think the issue there is that the rear main cap is sealed with RTV, and I do not know if that is done right. I found a set of original rubber slide seals, so will put these in.

The fourth issue is the ring gear is pretty well mucked up. I have a spare flwyheel with a good ring gear that I will swap. I will then get a good starter that does not attack it.

I will post some pictures tomorrow.

I checked into the microsquirt controller and was impressed. It would be a neat project to take on when the boy gets a little older. Was there any particular reason you chose a Massey for the project. Mainly wondering from a mechanical aspect or was it just your favorite tractor? When you had the TBI setup did you just use the original distributor ignition setup?

The rear main cap side seals on Continental blocks were originally sealed with Permatex and string mixed together, always took awhile to get the grooves filled. I much prefer silicone BUT the cap and block must be completely clean and dry, any oil or grease and it will leak. There's a small bevel at the mating cap corners next to the block, I squirt silicone to fill the groove and make sure there's some at the bevel that comes out, then you know it's full. I wonder if the rings just need more dyno/heat time to seat completely, how much time has it run so far? Never had much trouble with head studs on the 44s, think they were 9/16 on both gas and diesel blocks. The main bolts were a different size, if I remember right early gas and diesel blocks were 9/16 and later were 5/8.

This was my dad's tractor, and the one I grew up using. I originally started this as something to get my teenage boy interested in equipment, but that flopped. I think having the ignition driven by the computer is one of the most positive things, and would do that again in a heartbeat. This is an easy way to control the advance curve without having to do a lot of shenanigans.