Re: [Amc-list] 'Bought that busted exhaust manifold bolt - remove head, or open check book up?

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Bruce Griffis wrote:

> 2. Man up - I could probably remove the carb, the intake manifold,
> remove (or break) the rest of the studs, then remove the head. After
> removing the head, I could bring it in to a machine shop to remove any
> broken studs properly - and drill out and tap where appropriate.

YOu might consider this route. I know, I know, jobs can escalate... you 
went out to fix the mailbox and ended up painting the house...!

Here's some crazy ideas to consider, worth every cent you paid for them:

In normal use, the head gets the most wear.
On the 195.6OHV, the head has some particular attention areas
Good 195.6OHV heads are hard to find -- don't let it go unmaintained!
If it's running OK it's probably not cracked, but its' cheap enough to 
have it checked, and a good shop won't rebuild it WITHOUT checking for 
cracks.
Head work is not hard, especially if it's in decent-enough running order.
Bang per buck, you'll get a lot of performance for cheap.
You can really inspect the cylinder bores while you're in there, see if 
it has already been overbored, or not, and if there's more life (bore) 
in the block.
It's easy to remove and install.

THe head is heavy, but I had no issues at all removing/installing mine. 
The stuff you gotta remove is all obvious, and will remind you if you 
forget in a non-lethal way. Vaccum and fuel lines, oil filter and lines 
(that was a mild pain, 3/8" flare-nut wrench upside down -- I should 
have put new steel lines in, would have cost me all of $8). I don't even 
think I removed the radiator, though that often makes water pump removal 
easier.

Might even put a new water pump in (there's that escalation... :-) 
RockAuto sells 'em reasonably. Have the old one rebuilt as a spare at 
your leisure -- there's only a few items likely to fail-on-the-road that 
will leave you dead -- fuel pump, water pump. Don't pitch the old one, 
they are increasingly rare and there's a bunch of tiny variations.

If your valves are usable -- likely, if it's running OK now -- you can 
have them reground. For this old, high-tolerance, slow-turning motor I 
think you could use valves you wouldn't re-use on more modern motors. A 
decent machine shop can make that decision for you, but you might want 
to line up parts sources before you go.

Unless one is busted, or crazy out of spec, you'll be able to use the 
old springs. They're tall and low-tension!

The stems seals are certainly all rotten and leaking, they're old! The 
shop I used fit Chevy seals on with no effort. Cheap and available.

There's so much adjustment range available in the rockers that 
compensating for absurd amounts of valve lip removal (what happens when 
you grind 'em is they go deeper in the seat) that's not an issue at all 
(but the usual minimum lip is).


Reassembly is easy. As everyone's said here you MUST use old-fashioned 
head gasket sealer on these heads, and do the retorquing business, but 
that's easy.

Getting all the pushrods into the tiny, shallow depression in the lifter 
is the "hardest" part... just slightly tedious, there's 12 to do, you 
put the rocker shaft assembly on, you bump one, it falls out, ... not 
scary, just annoying. When you get there (if you do this) post, lots of 
people can help w/tricks.

I don't do engines often, and nearly all were hydraulic non-adjustables, 
so I went super slow on the initial valve adjustment, but it wasn't hard 
at all. Basically I rotated the crankshaft with a 3/4" socket on a 
ratchet; turned a bit, wiggled each pushrod, and adjusted such that it 
just rotated freely -- no rattly slop, but not tight. Turned the motor a 
few turns w/ratchet to check. With water etc in it it started right up 
and idled.

THen you get the fun of adjusting the valves. I say that without irony. 
This is a motor that will happily idle at 350rpm (though that's not 
useful) and when you get the valves just right, cylinder by cylinder, it 
gets... super... quiet.... ! You can hear each and every part in the 
motor operate one by one. Antique engines have their own virtues!

The loudest part in my 195.6OHV at idle is the fuel pump lever tapping 
on the cam; the diaphragm is full of gas, and exiting to the carb 
slowly; the lever only hits the cam a tiny bit.


Oh yeah, these heads often have a lot of corrosion around the thermostat 
casting which makes them leak coolant. It's easy to fix once the head's 
been boiled out. With all the rust etc removed the gasket sealing 
surface should be smooth. If not, trowel it with JB Weld epoxy (popsicle 
stick) then run a flat file over it til smooth. It's a good use for 
epoxy; low pressure, temps under 250, no rubbing friction, etc.


When I build one of these motors block-up, I'm gonna run a thin bead of 
epoxy around the entire head-block seam! They all seem to seep oil there.
_______________________________________________
Amc-list mailing list
Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://splatter.wps.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/amc-list