I put a gallon of Anti Freeze, G05 in with the distilled water and it was still foaming. There was water /steam starting to come out of the exhaust pipe. I re torqued the head again hoping that was the problem. It stopped the steam and water but no luck on the foaming. I pulled the plugs and did a compression test. Looks like I have something going on with 4 and 5. There is also a slight rust color on those plugs. Does this point to a gasket vs a cracked head or is it too little info.
I have trouble moving these heads around when they are easy to get to. Any suggestions on how to make removal and replacement easier than it looks?
Yes, that's definitely bad, and it must have been blown into the water jacket as well to give you all the bubbles. I am a bit surprised your 'blue liquid' didn't find CO2 in the radiator, though I have seen that a time or two before where it failed to catch a combustion leak into the coolant. It usually doesn't miss, and if it turns yellow there's no doubt.
I'm glad you have finally found it I would take a straightedge and feeler gauges and check that area for warp, both on the block and head. Keep us posted!
P.S. Whats this little yellow line? Is it just an illusion or is it a trail of some kind?
Hello Dave39MD, "I have trouble moving these heads around when they are easy to get to. Any suggestions on how to make removal and replacement easier than it looks?" I would say that it is not as easy as it looks getting the head off and back on with the engine in the car. It gets crowded with helping hands while trying to muscle the head around at arms length. You might think about an engine hoist to lift and guide the head or if you can gain access to fork lift or tractor with forks. Remove one fork, chain up head to remaining fork, then lift and guide head onto position. I know it sounds like a pain, but it may be the help you need to keep you out of pain.
Take an old broken off shovel handle, drill a couple of holes for the rocker shaft studs, put on a couple of nuts and washers and lift it out. Have done that several times. Makes the job easier both removing and replacing.
Thanks for the update. While I know it is not what you had hoped I am glad that you found a possible reason for the problem.
I agree that using an engine hoist to remove a head is the way to go. Just make sure all the bolts are removed before you start lifting!
I like to use guide pins when I assemble parts like the head. You know the gasket stays in place. If I have extra head bolts I cut the head off and put a slot in the end so I can remove it with a screwdriver. An alternative is to cut about 1/2” of thread length on the end of a rod cut to length. If I can get it easily I use an aluminum rod. It’s easy to cut and thread..
Lot's of good advice. I did not have any help so I did go out and buy an engine hoist. My third and last(I hope). The hoist did work well and I was able to go slow and easy. The head is at a good shop but the wait is several weeks.
Rusty the guide pins are a good idea and I have some left from a prior adventure.
guide pins are great :) have them for several components on the 1929 engine hoist is safest and easiest if alone. it truly is a 2 person job to get it set :) sure some can do it alone, been there done that
AACA - VCCA - Stovebolt - ChevyTalk Love the Antique Chevrolet's from 1928-1932 The Beauty, Simplicity, History, and the Stories they Tell
1. I measured all head bolts and they are all bout 4 3/16, maybe a hair less. I also went through a box of 20 or so head bolts I had been saving and all but one was the same. One was 4 1/4 and had an hour glass shape to it so it was obviously stretched. I don't see a problem reusing these but I may be missing something. Thoughts?
2. I am planning or retorquing in steps like 45, 55, and 65 in the proper order. Does that sound like a reasonable plan?
3. The head gasket has a smooth side and the side with folds around the openings. The one on the car was smooth side to the block but I was thinking smooth side to the head. Is there a proven way to put these on? Best Gasket says to use the copper coat but does not mention gasket orientation.
Dave, I would not use the bolt that is longer and has the hour glass shape. I believe the material has reached its yield strength and it no longer has its original strength. It may not be capable of being torqued down and will continue to elongate until it fails.
John Thorpe (VCCA member), who is a Certified Caterpillar Mechanic, told me that when rebuilding a motor, Caterpillar REQUIRES all bolts that can be stretched to be replaced with new ones. Sounds like a good idea to me.
In another vein, George Childs (another VCCA guy) found LOTS of wires in the water jacket of his 1933 engine when it was rebuilt. He also speculated that these wires were left over from the original casting process.
Cheers, Dean
Dean 'Rustoholic' Meltz old and ugly is beautiful!
Good points. I have been measuring and checking for stretching and found one in the engine and about a third in my stash that were questionable. I used my calipers around the threads long wise and holding up to a light which catches many that are starting to stretch.
If you hold another good bolt against it thread to thread any stretch will show up quickly. I went though 40-50 bolts to get a full set of good ones for my car.
There was a guy who made a bunch of high head head bolts years ago from VT, I believe. He now owns a performance bicycle shop. You can. Find him by google. He sometimes has an add on eBay selling head bolts. Myself and my buddy Joe Pirronne were able to get complete new sets for our 32 Olds flatheads from him. He did have 1/2x12 which I believe the chevy uses.
I have used the thread to thread comparison for many, many years. Far quicker and at least as accurate as using a die. Bad to bad, bad to good or good to good doesn't matter. If the threads from both of then don't nest together at least one of them is bad. Even stretched bolts will have a section of good threads generally where they go into the block. It is the section that goes through the head that stretches. Almost always the worst section is just above where they thread into the block.
Gaskets I've installed in the past which had their orientation marked on them put the rolled edges toward the head, and the plain side toward the block. So I've always done it that way.
Also, over time the rolled edge of the fire ring will sometimes leave an imprint on the surface it contacts. I've always thought it is much better for that imprint to be on the head than on the block. It's easier to deal with imperfections on the head.
I could of course be wrong. :-) If I am, someone please correct me.
Got the head back, no cracks found. He surfaced the valves after replacing the guides. I put it together ran it a little and retorqued the head. The compression is now within 2 lbs of 60 on all cylinders. It ran okay but needed to be timed and the valves adjusted again. Runs better with adjustments but seems to lack power on pulling the hills around here in third gear. I may be expecting too much. No foaming coming out of the cap but I still see a slight amount when I open the cap. Old cars are fun.