Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:54 am by Jim K
Had not done anything to the engine except carb kit, plugs, points, condenser, coil, new 8 V battery, prior to the head gasket going out. I got the truck not quite a year ago and with the ignition and carb parts, the motor ran like a top, just a little bit smokey, but not abnormally so. Ran it quite a bit at idle and warm up rev's, but hadn't driven it an inch. Figured the rings would loosen up once it got under load rolling down the road with a few heating/cooling cycles. Sequence of events was that the truck was started and rolled out the of the shop. Clutch engagement was too high on the pedal so slipped and wouldn't roll well under power. Part of the repairs was fixing an old repair on the clutch linkage, so there wasn't enough adjustment. Cut additional threads on the new repair. While trying to determine the clutch condition (revving up and dumping clutch just a little) I think the motor heated up a bit more that it did idling/rev'ing without load and allowed the old bolt torque/gasket combination to allow the coolant to leak into cylinders. (Clutch appears to be fine for now, by the way). Next day, after the linkage fixed and clutch adjusted, got set up for the first drive (could just about hear the "fat lady" -- hence previously mentioned stogies, which got smoked anyway!) and that is when the water in the cylinders exhibited itself. When taking off the head, found that re-torqueing the old bolts likely wouldn't have done much good. They were very tight and came loose with quite a snap, didn't break though. Found quite a bit of carbon on some of the bolts, likely and indication of the source of some of the smoke, and all but cylinder 1 (if that it the cylinder at front) had coolant in the cylinder. The corrosion is that flaky black sooty gritty crap, some bolts not black but rusty/flaky crap that kind of flicks off in little chunky squares leaving the bolt surface pitted. (technical terms!)
I contacted Olsen Gaskets, per Ibesq's recommendation. They were pleasant on the phone and had one in stock for $82.50, wellll, that ain't $175 and has quite a bit less risk than making own (read that aggravation for my father-in-law!, although there is no doubt he would be successful), so I ordered one, plus the thermostat housing gasket. Should be at the house in about a week. I'll try to remember to post how it turns out.
Am discussing a partial set of used head bolts with Captainbob, anyone else have some more that are in good shape? I need some more. None of those that came out of my engine are in what I would consider good condition.