1948 Fordson E83W pickup

Bugly, I feel for you, there's nothing worse....

I was thinking it might be the gasket but I would be checking the head for cracks as that head stud is a long way from the nearest coolant passage. And if the coolant is exiting the cylinder from an open valve, you would think the coolant would drain away pretty fast and not be able to develop any sort of head pressure and come out around the stud.

Regarding the radiator, are you able to cut two sections out of the bottom of the tank and swap them around so the crank handle can go in the right spot? I'm just thinking how good it would look to be able to start him with the handle at shows, etc.

Bugly hope the problem is not to serious as you are doing a great job on clarry. Rembember he will need all his power to carry the badge. Happy N/Y
Cheers Kevin.

Thanks Kevin, for sure I'll need all ten horses running in the same direction to get to my 70kmh!! And DD ... I had thought about a tricky cut in the bottom tank. I reckon if I measured it right I could put two cuts and spin the cut piece 180 degrees to line up with the crankshaft. A 'one day' job, 'cause I can still (just) fit the crank handle in there. I might be able to lift the radiator 10mm or so to help with the clearance meantime. The big advantage is that the cooling system is non-pressurized.

I removed Clarry's head today to see if I could pinpoint the problem with the water leak. My first check was to see if water was coming into the head stud hole from the head. Nope, clean as a whistle after polishing it up with a round wire brush

Next check was to see if water was coming on through the stud hole in the block. Nope, also clean as a whistle with no water entry into the stud hole when the block was filled with water timed over a couple of hours.

So ... if the water is not coming either up or down, it must be coming sideways. As it was getting through the open exhaust valve and out into the exhaust pipe, it must be coming from the water gallery adjacent to the #4 exhaust valve. A close inspection shows that the edge of the water gallery was pitted by corrosion, and the coolant was possibly leaking past the head gasket into the exhaust port.

But how was it getting along the head and into the head stud hole? Perhaps the head gasket wasn't torqued down as tight as it should have been, and perhaps the coolant was running along the 'fire ring' of the gasket?

This is a little scary, as I followed the torque recommendations provided by the gasket supplier. Maybe my torque wrench is past its 'use-by' date and is reading wrong? This is also scary, as the same torque wrench was used to torque up all the bottom end and flywheel bolts. Hmmm. I might need to check the torque wrench alongside a known good one to make sure.

Of course, it may be that the torque settings provided were incorrect. This would be the best outcome, as it means that I could probably just refit the head gasket and re-torque the head!!

Bugly, a good trick when torquing bolts is to keep retorqueing the bolts over a period of hours or, preferably, days. This will allow the castings to settle, the gasket to crush and the bolts to stretch, which means the bolts will stay tight.

You can also try spraying the gasket with Coppercoat or Hylomar to glue it all together. These coatings will fill in the little imperfection in the mating surfaces that metal gasket won't.

Bugly, a good trick when torquing bolts is to keep retorqueing the bolts over a period of hours or, preferably, days. This will allow the castings to settle, the gasket to crush and the bolts to stretch, which means the bolts will stay tight.

You can also try spraying the gasket with Coppercoat or Hylomar to glue it all together. These coatings will fill in the little imperfection in the mating surfaces that metal gasket won't.

DD, this may be where I went wrong methinks. If I had taken the time to re-torque the head before I filled it with coolant this may not have happened. From here I'll get the head skimmed just to make sure it's perfect, and I'll fit a new head gasket using Coppercoat. Then I'll take a bit of time making sure that its all torqued up. The torque setting provided by the gasket supplier and noted in the workshop manual is 30-35 lb/ft (40-47 NM) which seems a bit light, so I may lift that by 5 lb/ft or so.

The torque setting should be according to manufacturer, and failing that (as they weren't listed in Clarry's day) according to the size and steel of studs holding the head down. The studs must be tightened into their elastic zone which old hands can feel through the spanner. so I would revisit the gasket suppliers recommendation.

OzFamin ovr on D Left
tort me well

Do nut up F tight
till it stripz ... n back off 1/8 turn



LOL
cya

We had a similar problem with head stud tension on our 58' Nissan Patrol. Not long after it was on the road it blew a head gasket so I had a new one made. Some 6 months later it went again so another was made. Both times the head and block were checked and found to be fine so I added 5 ft/lbs to the head tension. Now 8 years later it still hasn't blown a gasket. You wouldn't think it would make that much difference.

Hi Bugly Murphy's law sure is a bugger I hope you can find a simple fix for old Clarrys incontinence problem I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product keep up the top work regards Bryant

Hi Bugly

Firstly I wanted to let you know how much I've enjoyed your posts on the pick-up. I'm not suggesting this is the cause of your coolant leaking problem but it is perhaps something worth checking. I had the same symptom of coolant escaping from one of the stud holes after I had fitted the cylinder head to the 10hp E93A engine in my Buckler. It turned out the nut had bottomed on the stud thread so wasn't applying the correct force on the head. I fitted a washer to the stud under the nut and the problem went away. I noticed in the photo there is no washer on the relevant stud.