Has anyone reconditioned a Cat 22 engine, and tested the compression, I have a Cat 22 here I just tested the compression of, and got between 72 and 75 PSI across the 4 cylinders, I added some oil to the cylinders, and that increased the figures by around 1-2 pounds, so not a huge increase.

I know the old gas Cat engines are not high compression, but I wondered what the new spec would have been, if ever published, and if there was no new spec published, then what numbers have people seen after a new set of rings were fitted with a valve grind and hone? It would be interesting to know the numbers for the other Gas Cats too, like the Ten, Fifteen, Twenty and Thirty for example.

This tractor has not run in at least 40-50 years, maybe longer, and I have not started it yet, just dragged it quietly in gear with the spark plugs out, and fresh oil in the sump, the oil pressure is great, comes up quickly to over 30 pounds just at a low crankshaft speed, and it has almost new track chains under it, which were rusted solid when I dragged it home, so maybe this tractor was actually looked after, before being parked up, unlike the other Cat wrecks I drag home!
Thanks
Mike

Sounds like you have a winner there. Uniform compression on all cylinders is good indicator along with oil in cylinder made little difference.
The original ford Model A engine was 4.2 : 1 compression ratio I believe so your numbers are in that ball park but ;higher. Your numbers would indicate a ratio of slightly over 5 to one.
Model A engines had heads that would increase ration up to about 6:1 so compression ratio would be in that area.

Thankyou D4Jim for that info, that is very interesting, I had assumed someone would have reconditioned a early Gas Cat, and then tested the compression once it was all bedded in and running. I know the little D2 / D4 pony motors when well worn, can still run quite happily on as low as 25 psi compression, but I would prefer to see more 70-80 psi in them.

This is the tractor that I dragged up and down a full irrigation channel with my D2 5U,  5 or 6 years ago, to get the rusted solid track chains loose, my 4WD Case 1490 tractor couldn't pull it, I shared photo's of that interesting challenge at the time. I can see that a previous owner has had the head off, they must have been a rough Mechanic because they obviously lost the original head nuts, and simply replaced them with some track grouser nuts, must have been the local International Dealer who worked on it.........LOL
Appreciate your help

That should be enough to get it running. I believe there is a good chance it will improve.Our twenty had very little resistance on the crank handle, tow started it and big improvement after only a short run. Starts on the crank handle now.