56 Coupe Deville Purchase

[Coupedeville]

Hi Guys,

I am negotiating the purchase of a 1956 Coupe Deville. The car had a body off resto in 2002.
In 2009 the engine was rebuilt but the owner was advised that the engine block was a 56 but the heads were 57 and the valve train 58.

Does anyone foresee any issues with such an engine? Is this common practice? would the engine block had to of been modified to take the heads and valve train?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated as it is not a cheap car.

Thanks and regards

Joe

[dino]

I would walk away.  Just my opinion.

[James Landi]

Hard to make a judgement with the info you've supplied.  If the engine runs well, has good oil pressure, appropriate internal engine temperature (no hot spots), and good compression (leak down test), the next step I'd recommend is an engine oil analysis to check for metals in suspension.  May be someone on the blog knows if these parts will cause engine failure, but if the engine is running well, and it passes these tests, you may be fine.  I did purchase a rebuilt marine engine that had a serious mismatch in the valve train.  It ran well, but had an audible and annoying valve train tap--the owner spent a ton of money but sold it to me for a "song"  ... after 600 hours of run time, the valves burned... (wrong sized push rod and tappets) -- if the price is good and the rest of the car is attractive, hell, go for it (IMHO)   Happy day, James

[Caddyholic]

If it was a true frame off in 2002 why would the engine need rebuilt in 2009?

[Art Gardner CLC 23021]

Sounds like something is wonky.  Frame-off in 2002, rebuilt engine in 09, mismatched parts?  Hmmm.  Either the folks who have been doing this car and engine are not careful or something else is afoot.  On engines of this era, sometimes you can kill a perfectly good engine due to a faulty valve in the vacuum system for the wipers.  The valve sometimes allows the vacuum in the intake manifold to draw the oil up out of the oil pan and burn it.  That can lead to oil starvation for the bearings with little warning.  It has happened to folks on this forum -- get an engine rebuilt and then it fails shortly thereafter (usually on a highway trip).

I wouldn't buy it because of the mismatched parts.  But if you are set on doing so, run a compression check and also an oil pressure check.

[Coupedeville]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

In fairness to the guy he has been open and honest about it. Had he not said anything I doubt I would ever have known unless I had a problem with the engine.

The story with the engine rebuild is, when the resto was being done in 2002 the engine was sent to a shop for a rebuild. It later transpired that the engine was only cleaned and detailed rather than fully rebuilt, despite being charged for a rebuild. so that's apparently why it was done in 2009.

As for doing compression and oil pressure checks, unfortunately I'm in the UK and the car is in Canada and I'm pretty sure no appraiser will do that for me.

Thanks again for your thoughts and suggestions.

Regards

Joe

[Dan LeBlanc]

Joe.

Where is the car at in Canada?  We have quite a few CLC members in Canada who may be willing to lend a hand and inspect the car in person for you.

[Coupedeville]

Hi Dan,

The car is in Picton, Ontario.

Regards

Joe