Hey I have this '36 flathead with one cast iron head and one aluminum one. I'm stripping down the engine, maybe gonna rebuild it. I got the cast iron head off no problemo but the alum. one just wont budge! I think maybe the studs are corroded to the head, I've soaked them a ton but no luck. any ideas???? thanks, Joe
How about welding a nut on a spark plug so you can attach it to a slide hammer … and a little heat around the studs. Or if its turning over Stuff some string threw the plug holes into the cylinders …. So the pistons will push it off
The engine ran when I bought it a year ago, so I'm going to try the second idea!!!! thank you so much!
I would start with a sharpened putty knife. Taper the putty knife on both sides with a file or your grinding wheel. Insert it between the head and the block, and tap lightly. Go all around the edge. Don't go very deep at first...a little at a time. If anything, bias it toward the block...under the head gasket if you can. 2nd time around, go a little deeper. Eventually, you'll break it free, and lift it just high enough to insert some wider tools. Don't be tempted to pry with screwdrivers...don't wanna gouge the aluminum. Maybe wooden or better yet, plastic wedges of some sort...possibly sharpened old toothbrush handles, etc. You'll get it.
I don't need to save the head, I think it would be hard to find another one to match. Its pretty beat up anyway, maybe I'll use it for garage art. I was thinking of using a set of don orosco's eddie meyer 21 stud heads. Joe
get yourself a deep hole saw that has an id to match the stud run it down over the stud and cut the head around the std. You could also do it with a long piece of steel tubing you file some teeth into on 1 end.
The best way to get rid of sulphation is with acid get some bathroom bowl cleaner it's about 16% acid keep soaking the studs. When it's bubbling it's wotking.
I have some hardwood wedges that the Ol' Man made just for removing heads. They have been in the family since the flathead days. You usually have to get the head loosened as much as possible with a putty knife like someone mentioned earlier then inser the wedges around the outside of the head in various locations and start tapping. The term I learned as a kid was worrying the part off and it pertained to anything that was a bitch. You take your time and don't let it win.
Have you tried something as simple as putting the plugs back in and cranking the engine to see if compression will pop it loose? You could also put a small shot of oil in each cylinder, then put the plugs in and gently bump the starter to push it off. Don't get crazy cranking with fluid in the cylinders or it can bend a rod.
That is your answer. The studs are corroded to the head. Need to get that cleaned up. Head or studs will be difficult to remove until the corrosion is removed. Neal
Why don't you just use a torch to heat the aluminum around each stud? Not the stud itself. The aluminum expands, thus enabling you to use a thin pry bar, putty knife or long-handled gasket scraper to get under it and pop it upwards. Heat must NOT be applied to the stud. It's simple Metallurgy 101. Be patient not as to rip the stud from the block also. I've seen this happen.
At one time you could buy hole saws made just for this. I don't know if they can still be bought today. Maybe some restorer or flathead rebuilder would have some to sell.
As a guy who has stripped spark plug threads in aluminum heads, I'd suggest that a slide hammer attached to those threads is not going to work. There are alot of good suggestions here. Time, patience, lubrication, heat, gentle but firm persuasion.
I have welded nuts to the studs This gets the stud real hot and should brake the bond to the head. Tig works best for me. You can but lots of heat and use very little filler rod
I do this then use an impact gun. Only done it to banger motors but it takes only minutes. Then hit the key and she comes right off.
Grind the studs off at the head surface, and then use a hole saw a bit larger then the studs and drill the aluminum away from the studs. There will be no saving the aluminum head anyway. But you can then clean and save the block. If you think that will be a lot of work try it with a Packard V12 with 2 heads. Iceman
On the studs, try to find someone who has Snap-on or other collett type stud pullers... these screw onto the exposed heads and then tighten like a collett, giving them a serious death-grip on the tops of the studs and a good chance of getting them outtathere. If wedging, start by going into the gasket above its bottom layer and try to keep the violence directed upward, as the head is unlikley to be usable no matter what and you sure don't want to gouge up the block. The trouble can be deeper than just corrosion...many early aluminum heads "grew" permanently in random areas and directions after many heat cycles, and were then further corroded by evil early improvised antifreezes. You can have just plain too much metal between studs from this, not just some resistance within the proper holes.
I once had a 36 Ford with aluminum heads. One of the heads started seeping coolant out of the head in a few wierd places. I got all of the nuts loose and soaked the studs with PB Blaster. Next day, I went out and turned the engine with the started. The head came up enough to make a big mess all over the floor, and I was able to work the head off of the studs. It took a while. After having the head welded up, I put it back together and drove the wheels off of it. Man, I miss that car.
Heres another question: I have a steel square shanked plug in the temp sending unit hole on an aluminum head. It will not budge. I tried heating the plug a little and it still will not break loose. My next step will be to weld a larger nut on the shank so I can get a good bite on it (pretty hard to with a square shank and an open ended wrench). Anyone else have an idea. I do not want to hurt the head, could care less about the plug.
Hey Chris drill a hole thru the center of plug as big as you can it will weaken it and calapse some when trying to turn it with a wrench and come out. Maybe...good luck.
On the plug...start by center drilling it...my experience is that putting a hole through a pipe plug seems to allow it to collapse a tiny bit allowing extraction. On those early flathead aluminm heads...the growth and corrosion problems were near universal. Most early V8 passenger cars came with aluminum heads, most had the replaced by iron equivalents early on. I have an elderly Ford engine rebuilders catalog that states any core with aluminum heads would be charged extra in the rebuild to cover new iron heads...aluminum ones were tossed without question.
Take the pistons out, turn the block over, or stand it up on end, and with a long wooden dowel through the cylinders and a BFH tap the head off.
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