Tool Talk

Classic Auto and Motorcycle Tools => Classic Auto and Motorcycle Tools => Topic started by: Bill Houghton on February 08, 2019, 01:29:56 PM

Title: Zim Mfg. No. 122 valve spring compressor
Post by: Bill Houghton on February 08, 2019, 01:29:56 PM

Down in the buy/sell/trade forum, I'm offering a Zim Mfg. No. 122 flathead motor valve spring compressor for postage:http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?topic=24398.0 (http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?topic=24398.0).  If I don't get a bite by February 16, it goes to the Habitat ReStore, where 1% of the customers will know what it is.

Title: Re: Zim Mfg. No. 122 valve spring compressor
Post by: slip knot on February 08, 2019, 06:10:12 PM

Do you have a picture of it. I may have a need for it.

Title: Re: Zim Mfg. No. 122 valve spring compressor
Post by: Papaw on February 08, 2019, 06:24:36 PM

Here is a picture of a Zim #22

Title: Re: Zim Mfg. No. 122 valve spring compressor
Post by: papadan on February 09, 2019, 02:18:11 AM

I've got one of those I used a lot in the 70s early 80s. I worked on forklifts and there are a lot of old flat head engines out there.

Title: Re: Zim Mfg. No. 122 valve spring compressor
Post by: slip knot on February 09, 2019, 07:21:10 PM

I'm gonna pass. I have one very similar to that and I am looking for a straight one.

Title: Re: Zim Mfg. No. 122 valve spring compressor
Post by: d42jeep on March 01, 2019, 08:15:13 PM

I found this one at an estate sale in Sonoma this morning. I think Bill might have planted it there for me to find!
-Don Houghton

Title: Re: Zim Mfg. No. 122 valve spring compressor
Post by: Bill Houghton on March 04, 2019, 04:04:10 PM

Cousin* Don,

Now you need to buy a vehicle with a flathead motor, if you don't already have one.  I recommend a Studebaker Starliner Coupe:
(https://assets.hemmings.com/blog/wp-content/uploads//2012/05/ML1953Stude_01_1200.jpg).
Then, when you've got it running perfectly, contact me, and I'll come ride in the passenger seat.

*Not likely a near cousin, although we live in the same county!  Are you related to the folks who had the grocery wholesale company in Santa Rosa some years back?

Title: Re: Zim Mfg. No. 122 valve spring compressor
Post by: d42jeep on March 04, 2019, 08:54:22 PM

Cousin Bill,
I like that Studebaker! I suspect that if I ever get it together to work on my Jeep, that flathead spring compressor might actually come in handy. I don’t think that our side of the family ever had a retail business in Santa Rosa but I’ve heard about a gold mine in Hornitos. I’m afraid all the gold is long gone.
-Don

Title: Re: Zim Mfg. No. 122 valve spring compressor
Post by: Bill Houghton on March 05, 2019, 08:43:14 AM

Yes, if your Jeep has the L134 "Go Devil" engine, you might find it helpful.  I've never worked on that motor, but the photo implies pretty tight quarters in the area where you'd be doing valve spring compressing, and the angled nature of that particular Zim compressor should help get to the cam follower "bays."