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As you will recall, I had a compression issue on No. 3 cylinder, and resolved to remove the head. I've had bad luck with manifold bolts, and so I decided to try to do it without removing the manifold.


My son and I got the car into the shop, removed the hood and drained the radiator. We pulled off everything attached to the head or that went over it. the hardest thig was getting to the vac line that went to the vac advance. Its under the carb and hard to see. WIth all of that done, we pulled off the acorn nuts on the head studs. My plan was to inject penetrating oil into the stud-head hole interface and let it soak for 24 hours. Then I would spin the engine and hope that he compression would pop the head. If not, I had brand new putty knives, wooden wedges, screwdrivers, and an engine hoist ready.


Without my permission, my son put a putty knife where the water was coming out and tapped it gently with a hammer. I went tight to the stud. He did it again a little further down, and it want right to the stud. Hmmmm.... So we did it a few more times, with the same result. We went thru all of our putty knives, when I lifted up on one. AND THE HEAD MOVED! We had it off within a minute. So much for the engine hoist. glad I did not buy those huge C clamps!


The stuff I put into the holes was a combination of PB blaster and some stuff from the dollar store called "LUBE." That's it. Just "LUBE." Its from the orient, and I assume full of strychnine and whale oil, but it sure works.



We soaked the antifreeze out of the cylinders with paper towels, and then coated the cylinder walls with oil, and pout some in each cylinder. I got the white glob out of No. 7; it was in the oil we put in.

It appears that the head gasket was blown between 4 and 5. My engine guy says the head is warped, so it needs decking. I have a new head gasket that came with the car (yes, I thought that was odd), but have just ordered new head nuts and washers so it will be next week before I can get it all back together. What puzzles me is that I can't see anything that would cause low compression on Number 3. I still have to spin the engine to do a valve operation check. While it is down, I might as well take care of some cosmetic issues. What color is the distributor supposed to be? Engine color, black, or something else?

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Distributor is semi gloss black on the body and natural finish on the metal clips & brackets etc.

The Missing, Dead Cylinder thread in the post war 46-54 forum from a few days ago has a few thoughts from well versed people on the need to do a head milling. If it turns out the head needs to be milled just barely do the minimum. Be sure and check valve clearance after it is done just in case it had been done before and more work has made it too thin so valves can hit the top of combustion chamber. There is a suggested method of checking valve clearance in the thread if you have not done it before.

Periodic valve regrinds were a common thing back in the day and could be needed now if you have low compression.

The head is decked! My engine guy had to take 20 thou off of the ends, so I'll have to do a clearance test. The "modeling clay" suggested for this is also known as play dough, by the way. When Algore takes over, I will claim carbon credits for all of the carbon I took out of the head. We also decarbonized the block, paying especial attention to the area between the valves and the cylinder. We could see no cracks, so I went over it with a magnifying glass, and still no problem. Waiting for new head nuts, washers and paint before reinstalling.


I also took the vent system out of the parts car. Every bolt in was either broken off or had to be ground off, but the system itself was not in bad shape. It turns out that my car is also missing the lower splash shields, so I pulled them out, too. the ducts collect a lot of dirt. I have one extra that is rusted, and appears to be from the inside. I used one of those odd cans of wrong color spray paint to paint the insides, and am working on the outsides. All of the rubber bulkhead seals broke into pieces, but I can recreate those. However, on the upper edge of the lower splash shield there is an L shaped piece of rubber where it mates to the upper. Does anyone make those?


While the splash shields are out, I took the opportunity to change out the fuel pump. Of course, the good deal I got on one on ebay does not fit. Instead of the usual shape of the fuel pump mounting flange, this one is a parallelogram, ie, a rectangle pushed over to one side. the rest of the pump looks correct. Any idea what this thing is? I'd like to recoup my loss, or at least some of it.

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If the rubber pieces denoted by the red arrows around the battery opening and separating the two panel halves are what you need I believe it is the same size and configuration rubber as was used in the earlier Clippers. There is nothing exactly the same dimension available in short lengths that I could find. Everything available was either much shorter in a leg dimension or was considerably thinner or was sold by industrial places that wanted a minimum order enough to do 20 cars.

For my 47 I bought a 10' length of U channel edge trim from McMaster-Carr and cut one leg of the U off. The rubber is 1/8 thick and a 10' length was enough for both sides. After cutting the leg off it left an L shaped piece that was almost perfect in all dimensions to what was on the car. The 5/8 cut off strip that remained was useful in a couple of other places. If your rubber is the same it might be an option for your car.

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AC pumps usually identified by the numbers stamped on the flange. Attachments from 1966 AC Fuel Pump catalog.

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Great chart, but the thing has nothing on it except made in the USA and the letter A in a circle. Pic attached.

Did a head clearance check and we are GO for reinstallation once the new head nuts and washers arrive and some painting is done.


What color iare the accelerator linkage and brackets supposed to be? Engine color?

As for the lower splash panel rubber, Steele has some stuff that is within a quarter inch, part No 70-1446-99. It's not expensive.

I got the drivers side vent system painted, so all of that is ready to go back in once I get the inner fender painted.

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After many delays, the head is decked and repainted, and the block surface has been cleaned. New head gasket, sprayed with copper coat. The head went on with few problems. Torqued it to spec in three phases, and put everything back together.


Finally fired it up today, and it ran just like it did before the head gasket replacement, and if anything it coughed out MORE white smoke than it did before. Ran it up to temperature, shut it down, and retorqued the head. Took 3-4 pulls per nut to do so. Now it won't even start. Gave up in disgust and put the charger on the battery.


Is it possible the choke and idle mixture are way too rich, thus instaflooding it? Newly cleaned spark plug came out black after we shut down. It has fire, but it seems weak. Won't even hit a lick on starting fluid. Any ideas?

Gas, compression, spark.....If you don't definitely eliminate these 3 items you will get even more discouraged. Not just getting gas, all components of the fuel system, ie, tank pick up, gas lines, fuel pump ....Valve adj, static and dynamic timing with a timing light as well as timing chain with the orientation according to the manual, firing order, all tune up parts, coil carbon tracking to one of the coil terminals, points, CONDENSER, cap (carbon tracks), advance(s) mechanical and vacuum, bad dist ground, bad dist bushings. Obviously you spent a lot of time coming to the conclusion that the head and head gasket were the culprit. PackardusOcutavus This is the point lesser old car owners will give up. My suggestion for you is to take a week off and step back..look at the car but don't touch. Spend time just letting this frustration ebb and do not stampede into this to get instant satisfaction, rather grab a pen and pad and start a check list gleaned from the Packard manuals on this site and choose one system to completely and thoroughly check. If I were you I would start with the electrical/ignition system. If that isn't right nothing will work as it should. Old car owners need to rise to the challenge using fundamental diagnostic practices, just like in medicine, there needs to be an indication to do something. Take a breather we'll still be here. My best,
Steve

Completely agree with Steve, great advice.

Your photo above when you removed the head shows an engine running extremely rich. Between then and now what if anything did you do to address that situation?

I seen you had a Rambler. I had a 64 that I put a new Iron Maiden in alone and spent an hour trying to get in 1 tranny crossmember bolt. I tried everything, gave up in disgust and vowed it was going to the crusher the next morning. The next morning I tried one last time... and it went in immediately! Drove that car for years. It got 29 mpg. The point is that giving up in disgust is a one day thing.

What puzzles me is that it was running, we shut it down to retorque the head, and then it would not start. It took about 5 minutes to retorque the head. I've never had a car not start after just retorquing the head. I've had several amc 1@6 ohvs, so I've retorqued some heads! Please also see next reply.