1930 Pontiac Splithead 6 – Valve Adventure

October 30, 2020 was a beautiful day for a drive with friends on the country roads south of San Jose. While most think of Silicon Valley as wall to wall tech companies, some of the roads with just a few miles of the center of this high tech world are an oasis of great driving. The day was just an impromptu journey that would be about 75 miles. The plan was for a nice social distanced drive with prewar cars and home again by lunch. The cars were a 1932 Ford Model B, a 1930 Packard 745 7 passenger sedan and my 1930 Pontiac Custom Sedan.

The 1930 Pontiac was one I acquired in 2016 and have driven almost 2000 miles. It is a great driving car with 38,000 miles on it. The one problem with the car that I was never able to sort out was that one valve, the number 3 exhaust valve, was one I was never able to properly adjust. I am familiar with splithead valve adjustment since I have owned a 1932 Pontiac for over 40 years. There was just something about this valve that seemed to be a problem. It would tap loudly on startup and usually quiet down after the car warmed up. With the valve covers off I would squirt some marvel mystery oil on the lifter and it would quiet right now for a while. The car ran so good that I hesitated to tear into it. It idled so smoothly that sometimes at stop lights I would check the oil pressure to make sure it was still running. So the valve problem took a back seat to other things that needed sorting out. I would get to that valve ‘someday’.

For those of us who have been around old cars for a while, ‘someday’ always comes. As we got to the end of a very enjoyable drive, about 15 miles from home, I heard the valve making noise. This was a bit unusual because when the car warmed up the tapping would usually go away. It continued to get worse and worse but I was able to limp home at 15 miles an hour to quite a racket. I was hearing popping through the carburetor which make me sure it was my friend, #3 valve.

Once the valve cover was removed it was obvious what the problem was. The #3 intake valve suffered a major failure of the valve spring. Plus me driving it home those last few miles managed to beat the spring to death and into several pieces.

So now ‘someday’ was today. The next installment of this story will be the assessment of damage and a plan to fix.

Stay tuned….