Re: Boat Anchors

["Steven F. Brueggeman" <amcer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Unfortunately this is common. I've had the same trouble with the 401 in my
Gremlin and the 390 in my AMX. Wish AMC would have radiused those areas
instead of machining corners. Now when I torque them I do it in 20 ft/lb
increments until 80 (20-40-60-80), then 10 ft/lb to 110 (90-100-110) then 5
ft/lbs (115).

There is some coolant additive you can use to plug them assuming the crack
doesn't extend into the combustion chamber. I haven't used it myself but I'm
told it works well.

-Steve-




----- Original Message -----
From: "JOE FULTON" <piper_pa20@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 7:55 PM
Subject: Boat Anchors


> I have a 1970 360 which I am freshening up to put in a
> Javelin.  I took the 291C heads to the machine shop
> yesterday for a quick valve job.  The machinist called
> today and said both heads were cracked.  I retreived
> the heads today and he showed me the cracks which are
> visible on the rear of the heads where the thick part
> of the head runs onto the "shelf".  There was no
> obvious sign that the engine had been overheated but
> it is a used engine and I don't know the history.
>
> The machinist says they can't be fixed.  He also said
> that he doesn't see that many AMC heads because they
> don't do much Jeep work, but he has seen a
> disproportionate share of cracked AMC heads.  He
> warned me about this when I dropped them off.
>
> Joe Fulton
>
> Salinas, CA
>
>
>