Boy, after the investment in plating (never inexpensive) I am pretty reticent about distrubing the plating or risking cracks in the pot metal. I use good ol' JB weld on things like that. I abrade the plating with a little Dremel wire wheel attachment to insure a good bond, and clean with laquer thinner before the join-up. I have drilled and tapped holes as in Howard's description, but done so before sending out for plating.

It's all according.

To do a real nice job, take all the valves out, clean them, check for wear, then lap them in with fine compound and reassemble. If none of them are burnt or badly worn. And if the valve stem is not too wobbly in the guide.

While you are at it check the cylinders for wear. If there is little or no ridge at the top of the cylinders, and all cylinders have a smooth mirror polish chances are the rings are fine.

.010 thou taper in the cylinders indicates bad wear. Scratches indicate broken rings. Pistons that look chewed, or have a hole in the middle, are bad too.

On the other hand if the valves are not badly rusted or gummed up there is a simpler way. Spray some oil around the valve stem. Make sure the cam is in the "valve closed" position. Give the valve a light tap with a small ball peen hammer right in the middle. Do not tap on the edge and you will not bend the valve.

The valve spring should pull the valve closed with a snap.

Turn the engine over a few times and if the valves are opening and closing normally, put the head back on and you are done.

By the way this all assumes that when the engine was running it had good oil pressure, there were no bangs raps or knocks, and it did not burn more than 1 quart of oil per 500 miles.

If it had no oil pressure, no power, there was a cloud of blue smoke out the back every place you went, and the engine sounded like a washing machine full of tin cans then all bets are off.

The usual way to remove a rusty leaky frost plug is to drive a punch through it and pry it out.

Could the dent have been made by such a punch?

The dent does not look deep enough to have any effect on water flow. It looks like some kind of accidental damage but is not serious enough to impair the use of the tube. I would ignore it if I were you. Put the tube back in and it will be fine.

I had removed the head and have 3 stuck valves, I soaked everything in Marvel oil and placed the head back on 3 months ago. I just assumed a valve job was in order, is there a trick to freeing the stuck valve without damaging it?

see my blog for lost of pics to help you.

Until proven otherwise, I'd vote for damage during install or while laying on a workbench before. Would shine a light down passage and see if anything obvious, but can't think of anything that would damage in place without you having water mixed with everything and the resulting symptoms.

I don't know what your original plans for the engine were or how many miles or how well it runs. After going to all this trouble of fixing things and what you're finding, think I would seriously consider the look see. I wouldn't be surprised to see the valves in need of service if there's many miles on it. If the engine has low miles and runs great (aside from the exhaust leak heard on video), then maybe not.

EDIT: I note the dent is right in line with the core plug and appears to be on side facing it. Don't remember for sure if the cylinders are siamesed--think narrowed but there's just enough space to get an object thru--like a long drift. That might be a possibility for the damage if someone was trying to get sediment out. That plug does look as if it might have been replaced compared to one on left of it.

Got the water pump off and the water distributing tube out, no real problem except one broken water pump stud.

The tube has a dent in it that looks very suspicious. Could that be a valve coming up and making contact inside the motor, or damage from a previous rebuilder when they removed it 20 years ago?

The reason I say it looks suspicious; it has a series of impressions, all in a similar area, very precise.

Ideas? Should I stop everything and pull the head?

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Hi

MT & HR: I lost interest in MT by the late '70's. MT along with and especially Road & Track, Car & Driver, Automobile irritated me with their relentless praise of whatever the next pricey model foreign makers bestowed on the fortune few who could afford one, implying those who couldn't should just....well, try to live out their miserable lives somehow.

I recall a particular subscription mailer for Automobile that headed the pitch "NO BORING CARS!". Their snotty, better-than-thou attitude came across loud and clear to me. Of course, I like lots of old cars they consider "boring".

HR never was of interest to me, I look at them when one comes my way, rarely find much of interests in it.

Currently, I find the most intelligent, interesting reading in the club publication: PAC, CCCA, SDC, ASC. In addition to the finely researched and well-written articles, letters from the club memberships share and enlarge on recent topics.

For a good general interest old car magazine, Hemmings Classic Car is hard to beat for the price. Wide variety, fairly well-written, interesting how-to and restoration features, thoughtful editorials, nice photography. And a gift subscription to a neighbor gets my driveway plowed after any heavy snow we might have!

Of Hemmings Motor News: after 30 plus years of subscribing and eagerly consuming each new issue, they lost me. A few years ago, I began to notice most of the content repeated month after month, it no longer seemed worth the price to reread the same advertisements I wasn't interested in in the first place. Also I became put-off by the idiotic prices for some very lousy cars (one's I remember as a teenager, I'm 57, so most of that HP ruck of 40 years ago)

One last: Old Cars Weekly, when I can get it for their 'special' deal price of $29.95. It gives me a weekly fix to read off-line, share with other guys, but it's no keeper, an old car 'fishwrapper'.

Steve

Talking about 1937s......
<P>I hope all readers know about the Opus II to be held at the museum in Warren Ohio July 20-26. We are organizing a never-before-atttempted Showroom of every model 1937 offered by Packard...SIX, 120, Super Eight, and Twelve, PLUS several custom cars.
<P>In addition, there will be on display about 10 Warren Packards....1899-1904.
<P>This is one show that will never be repeated.
<P>Those who do not attend, will look back and say...
<P>"DANG! I should have made the effort!"</p>

Randy, Procedure is exactly what I did. Don't remember for sure but think I used small sheet metal screws instead. Didn't have a bottoming tap & thought I'd have to go pretty far to get decent threads at top with what I had. Didn't want to risk coming thru. Whichever I used, they're still holding fine.