Removing head

[boatingbill]

I pulled the exhaust manifold yesterday to replace a leaking gasket and found coolant in
the #3 exhaust port. This is after having the valves ground and head gasket replaced
100 miles ago. I am tired of poor quality service and plan to replace the head gasket
myself. I don't remember if the head can be pulled with the thermostat housing and the
distributor left bolted on or do the bolts go into the block also? The shop manual just says
"remove head".

[joefrazer]

You can leave the thermostat housing in place but the distributor must be removed. There's an adapter shaft that seats in the head that runs down to the oil pump. It has to be removed to facilitate the removal of the head (it just slides out). The shaft has a slot cut in it's top, note it's position as it's cut off center to aid in getting the distributor set back into it's proper location at reassembly. It wouldn't hurt to remove the cap before you pull the distributor and noting the position of the rotor.

Also, don't forget to remove the coil and temp sending unit wires!

[dpledger]

When replacing the head, torque the bolts as per spec. then the next day check and likely they will be needed to be tightened again. This could go on for quite a while. The severity depends on just what sort of gasket you use, but I've never seen one that didn't need checking for a time after installation.

[boatingbill]

I've got the head gasket on order and will put the exhaust/intake manifolds back on while waiting.
I plan to leave the carb off until I am finished with the head just to make it easier to work. This all
started when I took the car to a tractor repair shop to have the valves ground (they were very
familiar with flat heads they said) and they reused the old exhaust manifold gasket because
they couldn't get a new one. I called NAPA about a mile from their shop and they said they could
get the gasket in a day! They had the car for two weeks.

[dusty]

Hi boatingbill, You should test the bolt depth holes on 3 bolts closest to the carburetor,ALL BLOCKS THAT WERE PRODUCED WERE NOT DRILLED ALL THE WAY THROUGH CAUSING THE BOLT TO BOTTOM OUT BEFORE THE HEAD WAS SECURE. USE A PIECE OF WIRE TO TEST THE DEPTH AND THE LENGTH OF THE BOLT BEING USED. also the 3 bolts closest to the carb always seem to need tightening 3 or 4 times after running the engine.

[boatingbill]

Thanks Dusty. I re torqued the head and will drive it a few times. If I see bubbles in the
radiator, it would most likely be exhaust gasses from the number three exhaust valve leaking
past the head gasket (see earlier post). Then I will have to pull the head. The good thing is
this car keeps me off the couch and on my feet.

[boatingbill]

Well, I pulled the head and noticed that the head bolt closest to distributor mounting bolt was
shorter that the other bolts. 32 bolts were 3 3/16 inches from top of bolt head to bottom of
bolt threads. This one bolt was 2 7/8 inches. The bolt hole was shallower than the others. This
is not mentioned in the '51 Service Manual. Could it be a fluke or maybe a broke off tip of a
old bolt in bottom of hole?

[joefrazer]

Chances are, it's a later replacement. Cap screws sold at hardware stores today are either a tad shorter or just a bit too long...the version that KF used are no longer available on the retail market...at least not around here.