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Considering replacing the head gasket on subject engine. Seem to have slight water leak as get a large amount of white vapor smoke on start up which clears up when engine warms up. Had a slight head gasket leak which I seamed to fix by tightening down the the head bolts, head bolts were only 45 psi that area that leaked. This engine has only had about 600 miles on it in the last 16 years and has a total of 38,600 miles. The compression test wasn't all that great, range 75 to 95 lbs. Hoping valves and rings may free up with some running hours. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bill

B - id give it a torque before a new gasket. Cant loose anything but a few hrs. Its worked for me several times. Think spec was 60-62 lbs with iron head and steel nuts. Dont just pull them up but break them loose first then bring them up otherwise ur pulling against hardened old junk on the threads and u get a bad reading. Between the old threads in the block, old studs that stretch and have old threads, a gasket that likes to compress and if old nuts were used, i find u have to torque many times and even then ive lost torque a few yrs down the road.

When u brought that new car into the dealer back in 1940 for that 500 mile - 1,000 mile - or checkup, thats one of the things they did RETORQUE THE HEAD.

As long as you're not leaking coolant into the crankcase, not much to loose by trying to retorque, but I'd say the chances are not in your favor. I've never had to replace studs or nuts, but the threads must be clean and dry to obtain an accurate torque - I'd use a tap and die (7/16-20) to clean the threads first. And retorque after an hour or two, and after a couple of hundred miles.

Good advice will follow. Have had some conflicting recommendations on head gaskets, some say best to use the original type gasket others say the new one are better? Obviously will look for cracks on head an block around valve area are these easy to see or not? If head is not warped should it be resurfaced or just clean along with the block surface. Also, as this engine has been relatively in active for the past 16 what about the idea of, as long as the head is off, poring some varnish solvent on the piston and squriting some down the valve stems to get at the guides and lifters snd turning the engine over a few times? If so, any recommendations of which type to use?
Thanks,
Bill

Bill - I've always resurfaced heads before reinstalling, because I hate having to re-do the thing. But a good machinist should be able to put a steel straight edge along the head in various locations and tell you if it should be resurfaced.

Don't resurface the head unless it's absolutely essential! You probably don't know if it's been resurfaced and there is a limit after which the valve heads will hit the top of combustion chamber and likely bend the valves. When in doubt, measure first.

Thanks for the feed back. My inclination at this time is to wire brush the head and block, then use a machinist straight edge and a feeler gauge. I've read that if any gap along the bottom of the straight edge is more than .006" then machine work may be in order? My other question regarding the head is, as I'm not sure how well I will be able to see up inside the water jacket in the head, should it be boiled out?
Thanks,
Bill

Re: 1940 180 with 356 engine

Postby Bill Butterworth ? Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:00 pm
Finally got around to taking head off. Some surprises, first it turned out to be just a one man job, that's the good news. The bad news is it was very difficult to get the head loose from one stud. It took about a half hour before I gave up and had lunch. First though before lunch I soaked the stud with BP Buster. Still had problems after lunch finally solved problem by putting nut back on stud and gently hitting it from all sides with a hammer, that did it. To remove the head by myself just worked the head up above the studs with a pair of 2x4's on edge one towards the front the other towards the back and used a piece plywood approximately 1'x2' resting on the 2'x4's and the finder with a towel and scrap piece of ridged foam to protect the fender. Then just rotated the head up on the plywood and slid it off! After all that concern the weight of the head was inconsequential. Now on to the cleaning and re installation.
Bill

Hi Bill,
I'm afraid I'm looking at having to remove the head on my '51 in the not too distant future. Since I already have a back that wants to "go out" at a lifting of the dog's food dish, I haven't been looking forward to it.

However, the method you use is a pretty ingenious way of doing the job! One that I am certainly going to "borrow" - after putting a cloth down over the engine block so that no pieces of 2X4 or some such gets into the engine.

Thanks for the idea!

With a bad back, another way is to call a couple of your Packard buddies over, and chill down a couple of six packs of their favorite brew.