What's your "Go To" for a hard head?

[35fordtn]

Originally Posted by G.M.

K.R.Wilson made very thin hollow drills that went over the
studs and drilled the corrosive material out. I have a set of
these, they are about 3 inches long 1/2" OD and 7/16" ID.
You have to keep spaying to lubricate with Rust Buster and
working in and out to remove the junk and keep from binding
up the drill. I found these years ago at an EFV8 flea market
in Penna. They were in a wooden tray with other drills I think
I paid $3.00 for the works but I recconised the drills from
seeing them a K.R.Willson cat. G.M.

These thin wall hole saws are neat and I would love to have one for engines with Alum. Heads. Wonder if something of modern manufacture is available.

[rockfla]

Okay, as of Wednesday 2/26.....I pulled all wedges and tapped the head back down. At this point I can "slightly" lift the front half of the head off the deck and grab it and the water neck and "rock" the head back and too. I can see PB Blaster getting squished out around the "Offending Lone Stud" (Very back, middle stud/Ground strap stud) along with air bubbles SO I know its getting down the stud. SO I push the head back flat and at that point use wedges to lift the head EQUALLY at all four corners. AT this point ANY upward movement of the back part of the head HAS TO BE done with persuasion!!! It WILL NOT move without "some" help. The front half or so of the head is free as a bird. The back half gets to were pictured below (1) and STOPS. Will not move beyond that point. I can pull all the wedges at that point and the head WILL NOT MOVE, WILL NOT ROCK BACK AND FORTH. STUCK!!!!! I can gently tap the front half of the head with the wood handle of the hammer and it falls freely back toward the block. The back have has to be "Persuaded" back down. I repeated this process "several" time INCLUDING trying to "persuade" the back half "more" at the point of sticking to NO AVAIL. I am trying not to have to remove the OFFENDING stud, as HOOP mentioned.....IF it breaks then I'm to the point of pulling the engine.......BUT every minute spent otherwise at this point has been futile at best. Photo (2) EVEN at angle just appears that there is not as much "free" space around that stud as opposed to the others???? Maybe its an optical illusion BUT it is "tight" to say the least. SUGGESTIONS?????

[tubman]

Why is the one stud so much shorter that the others. Maybe it is a later replacement that is bent or something?

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by tubman

Why is the one stud so much shorter that the others. Maybe it is a later replacement that is bent or something?

That is not the "problem stud". The "longer" one in the middle Picture 2. When I have the head back down "close" to flat on the deck and can rock the head back and forth, all of the studs but that one you can see the head move around the studs......that one stud you see VERY Little movement IF any....IT appears that the stud is "flexing" or moving with the head at that point. I don't get it!!! AND AGAIN, looking at my pictures THAT ONE stud doesn't look to have the space around the stud like ALL the other studs do!!!

[Mart]

Try this.

Lift head as far as it will go, I would expect the right side to be higher than the left.

Knock the wedges in more or less in line with No.4 plug. (Ensure valves are down in that area).

With carefully considered force, knock the right side DOWN.

Hopefully the head will pivot on the wedges and raise the left.

Repeat the process and little by little (hopefully) it will raise until released.

This is what I was trying to describe before but I used stacked cable ties instead of the wooden wedges. They're probably less compressable.

Mart.

[Willit Stop]

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I was wondering if that stud is actually a modified bolt. You could knock the head down, double nut it and see if it will back out. This probably won't work but it's worth a try. Just don't use any unnecessary force that will cause more problems than you already have.
Marts idea seems like the best one.

[rockfla]

Finally, Leap Year success!! With a lot of info shared, and use of a little bit of ALL the head finally came off. As you can see by the picture the one stud was from end of thread to block completely rusted. Saturday morning I started by following FLATHEADMURRE & Mart (and a few others) and started flat and moving it up and down, rocking it side to side. It was STILL tight at first BUT over time it started to move a little more free.....to a point. SO then I would get it as far as it would go, coat the stud in PB Blaster then work it back up and down and on the "down" take a rag and wipe the "crud" off the stud. THEN I would bring it as far "UP" as I could, re-coat with PB Blaster and THEN shoot compressed air around the stud a la JIM44 & RAYBEE's advice. Then I pushed it back down some and repeated the above process again, clean the stud off, coat with PB Blaster, then shoot compressed air and work it up and down, rock it every which way possible. It took about 45 minutes of sweat equity BUT success in the end. JSEERY I did give the ole' "remove the stud" a "bit" of a try at first BUT was afraid to put too much pressure on the jam nuts and stud for fear of snapping it. Thanks AGAIN for all the input and encouragement.

[Mart]

Good work, glad you got it off, Rock.

[flatheadmurre]

Good progress...things that fight back is more rewarding in the end...
Now for the assembly bring out the BIG can of never seize and next mechanic will be very grateful

[tubman]

Congratulations on a battle well fought!

Now that this is successfully over, I have to look back humorously at a thread a couple of weeks ago, when someone had the temerity to suggest I didn't know what I was talking about when I suggested that one of the pitfalls with installing new heads was getting the old ones off.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showt...94#post1850094

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by flatheadmurre

Good progress...things that fight back is more rewarding in the end...
Now for the assembly bring out the BIG can of never seize and next mechanic will be very grateful

Yes, cleaned all the studs with TWO grades of scotch-brite pads, chased all the threads with a die chaser and have it all cleaned while the heads are at the machine shop. Debating on replacing that one stud IF I should or IF once cleaned and anti-seized will be okay? Tubeman, you are SO correct.

[JSeery]

Way to go!