The Ford Barn

harryc · 03-12-2018, 05:11 PM

Today I decided to tear apart an A engine and see what shape it was really in. I bought it as an engine that had supposedly been 4 or 5 years ago and never used. When I got it all of the various inlets had been taped up. When I pulled the pan I found that the inside of the crankcase was spotless. It had new timing gears and a counterbalanced crank. When I pulled the head I found they had used a copper headgasket with no type of sealant.Head studs and nuts were new and loose and the head slipped right off. I found that it had all new valves and now I could say for sure new pistons that had never been run. The head and the block resurfaced. Now get this!! When I lifted the headgasket I noticed some debris in one of the water holes in the block. As I started removing it I discovered it was cotton. And it just kept coming and coming. It was stuffed full of cotton. Finally I got it all out ( I hope) and looked more closely at the head and it also was stuffed with cotton. I can't see how all of that cotton got in there. There was no hint of cotton visible around any inlet. I'll bet I have inadvertently stumbled across some ones secret method for sealing cracks in heads and blocks...you think?

03-12-2018, 05:11 PM	#1
harryc Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: CA Posts: 206	How Wierd is This. Today I decided to tear apart an A engine and see what shape it was really in. I bought it as an engine that had supposedly been 4 or 5 years ago and never used. When I got it all of the various inlets had been taped up. When I pulled the pan I found that the inside of the crankcase was spotless. It had new timing gears and a counterbalanced crank. When I pulled the head I found they had used a copper headgasket with no type of sealant.Head studs and nuts were new and loose and the head slipped right off. I found that it had all new valves and now I could say for sure new pistons that had never been run. The head and the block resurfaced. Now get this!! When I lifted the headgasket I noticed some debris in one of the water holes in the block. As I started removing it I discovered it was cotton. And it just kept coming and coming. It was stuffed full of cotton. Finally I got it all out ( I hope) and looked more closely at the head and it also was stuffed with cotton. I can't see how all of that cotton got in there. There was no hint of cotton visible around any inlet. I'll bet I have inadvertently stumbled across some ones secret method for sealing cracks in heads and blocks...you think?