I am ***embling a 52' ford flathead engine. It originally had bolts that secured the heads. I purchased a stud kit and OFFY heads from Speedway. I tapped all the holes in the block to make sure they were clean, installed thread sealer to prevent leaks and installed the studs. All studs appear to be straight and generally line up with the holes in the head. When test fitting the heads I noticed a small amount of aluminum s****ing off. I am concerned with it getting into valves, pistons, and under the head gasket. I cleaned out the head holes a bit, chamfered all holes and slid them up and down a few times. I also un-shrouded the spark plug holes. This seems to have reduce most of the shavings. Any ideas or tips on this?
Hey!! Hope you used a thread chaser instead of tap!! I used 557 sealent and install the heads before it set up! worked great!! I got this tip on the hamb(Bruce Lancaster I believe) Pete
It was a bottom tap, all that came out of the block holes was dirt, no metal. So what about the tight fit when sliding over the studs?
If holes have been tapped with a machinest's tap, the fit has been opened up and you will need sealer in there. Studs will be wobbly and perhaps off vertical after tapping or if base of studs doesn't have the seat Ford used...so they need to be set: screw in studs, tighten lightly in sealant. Set on gasket, set on head, put washers and nuts on and tighten sufficiently to pull studs to vertical with washer and nut planted against head. You do not need to tighten down as in installation. Let them set up overnight. They should be set firmly vertical, ***uming that heads are machined properly at bolt pads. If you have interference at studs after they are vertical, head is poorly machined, try drilling out its holes a very slight amount.
Not all the holes are drilled and taped straight. You could put a nut on the studs and beat them so they line up better, but i wouldnt if i didnt have to. Likely what little shaveings make it into the bore will get blown out the exhaust. You could use a shop vac or compressed air vac to **** up the shavings as you go or out the spark plug hole. Or what bruce said
Studs seem to fit tighly even after cleaning out. Like I said only dirt came out. Had to turn new studs in using 2 nuts that were locked together at top of stud. All studs seated tightly and are at the same height. Used the sealer on bottom of stud just to be sure. There is no wobble in them at all. After installing and removing the heads a few times they are better. Will try "minor" clean up holes in head. Thanks for ideas guys.
It may be over-kill but I like using shoulder washers, http://www.stefs.com/bandb/products/productpages/washerstep.htm. You need the special bit to install them. I think these keep the studs centered in the holes to make head removal easier.
Had the same issue last year when we where running Offy heads. As we need to pull the off once and a while, I ended up redrilling the heads. This might come handy; http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=593411&highlight=head K ............................... Taildragger&fenderless
The procedure I would suggest is lay the heads and gaskets in position without any studs installed. One at a time install the studs but dry, at this point NO sealer, keep going until you get all in without no effort. I would sort of "jump-around" some, use a random order. Eventually you may only need to open up only a few holes in the heads to get a decent fit?? Mark each hole where the stud is binding, remove the heads and drill those marked holes. When you've finished and ALL studs are in place simply remove them one at a time, seal up the bottoms, VERY SPARINGLY, and leave them fingertight in the correct position. (Read the P.S. below) (Important) You don't want any excessive sealer "puddling-up" by the head, gasket, and deck area. Allow the sealer to setup, torque them up. This sealer does not get rock-hard immediately. Contrary to belief, we've always run a tap through these head bolt holes and never encountered any leaks with this method. I do use only USA produced taps here however. The off-shore stuff seems to be oblivious to the "H" limits when making taps. (Add) A few years back we fabricated a plate to install pins, similar to the SBC setup, where the heads and the gaskets are pinned at the 4 corners midway up the deck. It's a daul purpose tool, allows the pinning operation and is a block-plate for final honing on the bores! Thanks Gary in N.Y. P.S. The ONLY sealer we've ever used on this platform is the "hard-setting" #1 Permatex. DO NOT put any anti-freeze in until you've broken it in! Straight water only.
As Bruce said, head seemed to be poorly machined. I cleaned up stud holes in the heads with a polishing arbor being carefull to stay as straight as possible. Only removed a minimum amount of material, mostly just smoothed them up. Now they slide on with just a slight wiggle. Thanks all, problem solved! I like the idea of the shoulder washer - nice. Gaskets seem to be OK.
Ditto, the studs fit rather tight. You mentioned "unshrouding" the spark plug holes; By using a different reach plug, there's no need to do that. NGK B5H S will work and fit perfectly in the Offy heads, and are the same heat range as H10. Being one of the "ol skool" guys, Permatex on the threads keeps the coolant in the block. Happy Roddin' 4TTRUK
I looked at longer plug option first. I was worried about the valve touching the plug if I used a longer reach. Valve has proper clearance to head, but longer plug would be real close to valve. I using an ISKY 400 JR cam so lift is more than stock.
Bruce's explaination is how I learned to do it myself. Some times even on Ford factory heads the holes need to be relieved a bit to clear all the studs. I have a ream in my tool box marked flathead that is from way back when the Ol' Man was still building flatheads (when I was still a gleam in his eye). I haven't used it in a long time but it is what I prefer to use to relieve the holes. Even after all is done it is still a good idea to try and keep your head as flat as possible when you install it to avoid any binding.
First off you are dealing with a piece of 61 year old iron, chances its been apart more than once. Even at everything being best-case, you take a stud that's a RCH out of square with the deck and the alignment gets worse over the length of the stud. Once they're in place, you can always persuade them into better alignment with a machinist's square and a br*** mallet. And/or open the holes in the head by a 1/64". Bob
The Jalopy Journal
