Ford 1500 cracked head & burnt injectors

[bc]

Hello guys. Been having issues with the ford 1500 with the 2 cylinder Shibaura LET 852C engine with mfg date of around 8-17-79 (date on the transmission casting). Only had about 10 to 20 hours on my rebuilt injectors. Ran out of fuel and found the rear one was blowing compression through it when I loosened the lines. It ran ok though but sometimes lugged down going up a slight slope and sometimes would power its way up. Took the injectors to the diesel shop yesterday. They showed signs of soot and leaking around the base. When I took them out there were no copper seals in there like I had put in. A different tech guy (not the one who rebuilt them) said there should be heat shields there. He tested the injectors and you could blow air through the rear one and on the test machine it just put out a steady stream. The front injector would jet out a number of streams but it wouldn't pressure up right so he said it was stuck.

Calls to Wichita Tractor and they were trying to locate some injectors. Ford changed styles after October 79. I need to call back with the serial number but the data plate is gone. They said they can't find the earlier ones and the newer ones they weren't sure they can get. Diesel guy said they couldn't get parts to rebuild the injectors.

So great. I need new injectors that are hard to find.

So then I ran a rotary brush in the thread holes in the head. One had a tiny crack in the side of the shoulder below the threads and the other had a groove or two in the top surface of the shoulder where the seal fits. Decided to take it off which took a couple hours and took it to the machine shop figuring I could fix that and get a valve job at the same time. They looked at it and found that there were cracks around both precompression chambers and one crack extended to a valve.

So double great. Now I not only need injectors but a head too.

He looked at the head gasket and my pics of the cylinders. There were some rough looking dark spots on the cylinders and around the pistons. So it needs to be worked on. Can't tell if it is a sleeved or sleeveless and if we can find oversized pistons or if it has to be bored and new sleeves added.

So triple great. I need injectors, a head, and pistons to rebuild the block.

A call to Weavers and they didn't have anything for it. Reliance doesn't list a ford 1500. Parts search on the interweb has shown any good results.

Will try to post pics from my phone on another post

Can anyone help with this? Need a head with injectors and the pistons to rebuild the block. Is there another engine out there I can swap out. Thanks in advance.

 

[bc]

 

[Tom in Mo.]

I mean no disrespect with this reply. You probably aren't getting a response because most people here would not throw this kind of money to
repair this little tractor. Put that money towards a good 30-40 horse machine and you'll never look back. If you mow with this, a zero turn.
If you insist on repair try googling Ford salvage yard (near you).

 

[Welding man]

West Kentucky Tractor Salvage will have what you need. Google it.They specialize in all japenese compacts. Pricey, but they usually
have it.

 

[Old Ford Mechanic]

Ether is the enemy of those little engines. Last one i had in the shop looked like that one. Found a used
engine in Pa. That was several years back. Complete running engines are almost impossible to find.

 

[bc]

Thanks so far. West Kentucky tractor parts is closed and they are transferring calls to Wengers in PA. They don't have a head and if they can find one it would run about a 1000 to 1200 bux as they are hard to find. They can get pistons for them in a std at 200 bux each or .020 over for 250 bux.

I know what you are saying Tom but you could say that about any old tractor and what do I do with it other than haul it to a scrap dealer. I've spent enough rebuilding the 2606 that would have made a great down payment on a compact tractor that is new and they are similar in price to a car.

I'll keep looking but for now I think the plan is to clean it up, clean up the injectors, put it back together, and run it till it dies or blows up. The head gasket got bent in half somehow hauling the head home so I need one of those and some injector gaskets.

Might be able to clean up the injector shoulders in the head with a rotary grinder tool. Have nothing to lose by cleaning up the head and trying to scrape some extreme JB weld in the cracks and see if it helps or not. It ran before I pulled the head but just seemed like it didn't have much power.

Anyone know of a different engine that could go in there for a decent price? Thanks.

 

[bc]

Been checking. Found a cylinder head co. in Wichita that can weld and rebuild a head for 600 bux plus valve seals. Things are looking up.