Blown head gasket repair, older siamese "F" block. (1962/3)

[3jvj]

Seemed appropriate to re title the thread at his point.

Chores done, time to get into wrenching

Going after it as before; I'll strap the transfer case to a board and slide the old donor motor/tranny back out.

The original motor will go on a stand for rebuild. I did the last parts swap on the ground, but I plan on doing all the gaskets. It'll be a lot faster/easier on a stand.

 

[67azcruizr]

either the copper spray or hylomar wouldn't hurt. use a light coat if you do

I would be more concerned with cleaning it extremely well. after a careful scraping, i like to go over both surfaces with a scotch bright pad either by hand or with a 3m 2" sander

then blow off both surfaces very well and sparingly wipe down with a quick drying degreaser of sort

 

[3jvj]

Agreed. I've got a die grinder and a yellow (soft) plastic bristle brush. I'm donating a fair amount of time to cleanliness. I figure another three hours of cleaning before assembly, maybe less if everything goes smoothly.

62 motor is on the stand. The other motor is out. Going smoothly. I plan on spending the rest of the evening cleaning, so that tomorrow can be spent on assembly.

So far, so good.

 

[nuclearlemon]

They don't salt the roads here, so i'm not overly worried about rust. .

they don't salt the roads in denver either...they use mag chloride, which is worse if you ever bring it up here, don't drive it on denver metro roads unless they are fully dry or we are well into summer with lots of good rain to clean the crap off the streets (and flush all those nasty chemicals into the drain water where it gets routed to city lakes and kills the fish and ducks-take that nepa)

 

[3jvj]

Haven't made it to the head yet (or inside the block), but the outside is almost ready. Lots and lots of cleaning today. I did manage to get most of the carbon build up off the top of the block. Aside from some minor pitting here and there, it looks to be in pretty good condition (for it's age).

 

[3jvj]

I've flipped through the manual, but if it mentioned it I missed it; does the oil fill tube just pull out of the block?

Now that it's daylight I've blown it out, and i'm ready to open it up.

 

[3jvj]

Maybe I'm being overly cautious, but I didn't want any cork remnants plugging my oil lines. I blocked it from debris as best I could.

I've been using a Bob Ross flexible paint knife for skimming the block (including the deck). You can find them in the art section of most craft stores. I've had lots of experience with one, and recommend it for this job. Its flexible, sharp, and allows a certain amount of dexterity that a razor won't allow. This is the gasket rail before wiping (just scraped at this point).

 

[3jvj]

I'm not even sure having air has been as important as this tool, really.
Being able to get into the little places has been key for cleanup.

 

[3jvj]

The rear main seal was leaking pretty badly before the head gasket went. When I swapped the new one in the entire area smelled burnt. I believe the pilot bearing has been generating heat. It does not move very smoothly, and I believe it lead to a brittle and cracked rear main seal.

I'll have to do a search for the bread trick.
Hopefully it comes out easily.

 

[3jvj]

I'll try anything once....

 

[3jvj]

That was cool

 

[hdjtachtig]

Have a nice lunch.
Now whats the trick?

 

[hdjtachtig]

Never mind. I found it. Quite cool it is.

 

[3jvj]

It would appear somebody in the past had some issues; those look like drill marks to me.

Should have used a hot dog bun.

 

[3jvj]

I banged the cage on the pilot bearing, so the bellhousing/clutch will have to wait until a real parts store opens (tomorrow).

On to other things now.

I opened the gasket kit, and it is not bi-metal.

Still in the air about whether I should use a spray on it. I'd love an opinion. Thanks.

 

[67azcruizr]

I was told by my machinist that it used to be very common to use the copper spray on decks/heads that hadn't been resurfaced.

That being said he told me he never uses it nor suggested any of his customers to use it. sorry I couldn't be of more help.

maybe set your head back on the block without the gasket and check for any distortion(s) with a feeler gauge. It may not reveal any troubled spots outside of the perimeter but it could offer any obvious areas

 

[JohnnyC]

I have spayed on my triumph before... But... My buddy who does cruisers never has

 

[67azcruizr]

also make sure that your head bolts are as clean as you can possibly get them and that there is no damage to any of the blocks' threads

 

[3jvj]

Yeah, I'm spraying it.
I actually epoxied this gouge. Lord knows how many decades ago this gouge showed up, but the last gasket held it. The spray should help with stuff like that.

Somebody either outran the springs at some point or debris wedged the valve open during a stroke. Crazy how much these engines can take and keep running.

 

[3jvj]

Couldn't agree more on cleaning up threads, and would recommend to anyone doing one of these to have a tap set on hand. I spent almost forty five minutes repairing the threads on the throttle linkage bolt today (because I didn't ). Terrible waste of time. Thankfully it was the only bolt that gave me fits.

Anywho; this is where I'm at. Twenty hours into it, and probably 18 of those have been into cleaning. Next time I play this game I'll spend five building a media blasting box, so I can spend three hours cleaning instead.

I used a rust converter on everything that went back on it.
You can't even tell it's the same motor.