Cylinder Head Washers

Today I replaced the cylinder head on my 1948 KB-5 with the 233 Green Diamond engine. I placed new lock washers on the head bolts and then torqued them to 90 ft. lbs. Apparently using the lock washers was a mistake because now I have engine coolant seeping out around the bolts and filling the spark plug wells. Is there a special washer used under the head bolts to seal the leak? Also what is the correct torque for the head bolts?

Ok, not a crisis. There are 2 things here, but only 1 of them is causing the leak. First off, the original bolt setup used heavy flat washers only. 2nd item (and the cause of your leak), is that every head bolt is threaded into the water jacket. Each bolt should have a thread sealer on it. I use Permatex form-a-gasket #2. Like the old Brylcreem commercial said, "just a little dab will do ya". Put a dab on the threads, work it all the way around, and install the bolt. Do that for all the bolts.

A couple of other things, that you may or may not be aware of. First off, torque the bolts to approx. 35-40 lbs first pass. Next pass, torque them to 65 lbs. Run engine up to temp for 20-30 mins. re-torque all head bolts back to 65 lbs. You are now good to go.

I am not sure if the flat washer vs. lock washer is important, but I went with the original config, and used heavy flat washers.

Thanks. I'll get right on that tomorrow.

EJ, I just re-read your post. I see that you torqued the bolts to 90 lbs. in your first installation. I would suggest that you get some Permatex Copper coat gasket spray, and use that. The "crush" you put on your head gasket is probably not an issue, but to be safe, invest the $10 for the spray can of Copper Coat, and apply to both sides of the gasket, then re-install, and torque correctly.

Others may jump in here, but the good news is, that you didn't run it for too long and heat it up. What I am suggesting may not be required, but I view it as a "safety" precaution to ensure a good seal for the new head gasket. Considering the tedious job of installing and removing a flathead head gasket, I personally would take the extra step just to be sure.......

In my opinion............your mileage may vary.

If you do 1 bolt at a time you do not have to remove the cylinder head and the gasket seal will be OK.
Bill

I pulled one head bolt at a time and applied the Permatex Form a Gasket 2 to the threads. Stopped the leak BUT.....Finally got the engine started today. It ran terrible for a couple of minutes and then a big wad of stuff blew out the exhaust pipe and the engine started running smooth. I let it idle for about an hour. I cut it off and checked the oil. It was way over full and looked like it had water in it. The oil that I drained from the engine before I began working on it was black but didn't have water in it. I left the block uncovered for several days while awaiting the new head to arrive. The hood was closed but we did have rain. I'm wondering if water could have gotten in the oil when I went through the process of pulling each head bolt to put the Permatex on the threads. Any Ideas???

Yes. Short answer. Drain and refill, check after running again. If more water, then you have possibly bigger problems.

My thoughts

you could've gotten water from the bolts or rain, run it to warm, drain it and fill with some cheap oil, run till hot before deciding it's bad, there will be some water residue moisture, but it will steam out if ran long enough,
provided you have no other problems, once you decide it is fixed, run hot and change oil again with your oil of choice.

if you have water in oil at this point something is wrong

Ok, take a deep breath. Drain the oil. Change the filter. put fresh oil in. Run it up to temp and run it for at least 30-60 mins at operating temp.

I think you will find that all is well.