Head Gasket repair 1936 21 stud

[Tinker]

Originally Posted by Tinker

If heads are stock, have them milled .050

Originally Posted by Talkwrench

If youve taken that much off without knowing if its ever be done before it would pay to put them on without the head gasket and turn the engine over by hand and check nothing is touching , if all good proceed

Always hand check it.

[tgarner317]

Yes, will definitely check piston to valve clearance. I’ve been reading about guys using small balls of tinfoil to measure this.

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by tgarner317

Yes, will definitely check piston to valve clearance. I’ve been reading about guys using small balls of tinfoil to measure this.

There is no piston to valve clearance on a flathead, believe you are referring to piston to head clearance & valve to head clearance.

[tgarner317]

Ha! You would be correct.. My past small block Chevy way of thinking is apparent with that statement.

[FL&WVMIKE]

Originally Posted by Talkwrench

If youve taken that much off without knowing if its ever be done before it would pay to put them on without the head gasket and turn the engine over by hand and check nothing is touching , if all good proceed.
If you've scrapped away to remove crud in your cooling system, you might want to consider using something to catch it moving around now. Not sure of what you guys have in the U.S. but here I run cone filters in the top hoses of the radiator.

Be careful with these coolant filters. If you have them, check them OFTEN. They will quickly fill up with crud, and restrict coolant flow. There use to be a coolant filter called a Gano filter. It was a trapped screen inside a clear plastic tube. It was clear so you could easily check to see if it was clogged. I had one on an old mustang, but took it off because it was more of a pain than it was worth.

As for cleaning the block, the rear lower corners will be FILLED with crud. We re-did the engine on the '35, and I used a powerful pressure washer to blast it out. Was AMAZED at how much stuff was buried down in there!

Good Luck

[tgarner317]

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Using my wet vac with a clear tube extension to get down into the coolant passages.. This works really well!

[JSeery]

Need to scrap around in there as well, there is wire and casting sand that needs to be nocked loose.

[tgarner317]

Originally Posted by JSeery

Need to scrap around in there as well, there is wire and casting sand that needs to be nocked loose.

Yes, did that first with a coat hanger; scraped, scraped and kept on scraping..

[Talkwrench]

Originally Posted by FL&WVMIKE

Be careful with these coolant filters. If you have them, check them OFTEN. They will quickly fill up with crud, and restrict coolant flow. There use to be a coolant filter called a Gano filter. It was a trapped screen inside a clear plastic tube. It was clear so you could easily check to see if it was clogged. I had one on an old mustang, but took it off because it was more of a pain than it was worth.

As for cleaning the block, the rear lower corners will be FILLED with crud. We re-did the engine on the '35, and I used a powerful pressure washer to blast it out. Was AMAZED at how much stuff was buried down in there!

Good Luck

Yes you must check them.! I do coolant changes every two years as required by the type of non glycol coolant I use. You get to know your engines

[J Franklin]

An additional thread concerning piston to head clearance. I see you are already there but for others it might be a good read.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249194