Exhaust gasket goo

My 8N ford tractor has a loud clatter...

I found the cause, the exhaust gasket has blown out in a small spot. The metal in the block is slightly burned away. ( a couple years ago, I put a new manifold on so its in good shape here) Its a flat head engine so the ports are in the block not on the heads. And to make matters even worse the block on a tractor is the frame support also. No way can I take the thing apart enough to re-machine this surface.

So, do they make some sort of gasket goo to add to the manifold gaskets that will correct this problem?

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend
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how "slightly" is "slightly burned away" - on my L head cars, erosion of the block in the area of the manifold is common, but a proper gasket seems to do the trick - it's quite possible that you didn't torque the manifold correctly when you put the new one on. Note that some bolt holes are enlongated to accommodate expansion (at least on cars), and that overtorquing causes troubles as does lack of proper washers and hardware. I've had a cracked manifold (on a 51 dodge) welded successfully - nickle rod - I would expect that a good welder could build up some material if you needed it, and then some work with a file could bring it back down to level enough for a gasket to seal. There are also some high temperature ceramic fillers.

If your tractor is running right, the manifold isn't "that hot" - but if the timing is off, it can get really hot - I made a mistake on setting one of my cars and the manifold ended up red-orange before I shut it off to figure out what I had done wrong.

Reply to
Bill Noble

...

Its all pitted, I'd guess .020 deep at the worse spot, most of it much less. About a one inch wide area.

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OK I went to mcmaster.com On page 3347 they list all sorts of repair materials for high temperature. I guess I'll order high temp repair putty part number 7356A33 unless somebody has a better idea.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

I'm sure we'd like to hear how it turns out.

---won't you miss the "throaty roar"?

Pete Stanaitis

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Karl Townsend wrote:

Reply to
spaco

On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 14:47:07 -0600, the infamous "Karl Townsend" scrawled the following:

Looks like a winner, and much better than that crap J.C. Whitney had four decades ago.

-- "Not always right, but never uncertain." --Heinlein -=-=-

Reply to
Larry Jaques

I dunno, Billy Mays says to use Mighty Putty ...

Reply to
Foghorn Leghorn

Our auto parts stores generally carry a muffler or exhaust pipe repair product which seems a lot like the "furnace cement" I used to get. It is a putty-like stuff that works pretty good if you can get it in the crack and allow to set. I have repaired leaky manifolds by daubing them up with this cement and wrapping wire around it to hold it in place. You do have some baling wire to go with that 8N, don't you? It is a required maintenance and repair item. ;>)

Don Young

Reply to
Don Young

Furnace cement?

-Carl (korrectly spelled)

Reply to
Carl Byrns

I'll check with the auto parts store in the morning. My dad used the New Holland model 68 wire baler until about 1972 when baling wire got too expensive. My "lifetime supply" of baling wire has long been used up. Guess I lived too long or used too much. Other wires aren't quite the same.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

FWIW, 99% nickle rod, while expensive, is real easy to run, even on AC. Takes about half the amperage of 7014, sticks well, and files easily. If it weren't so expensive, I'd be tempted to use it for everything. They often sell it in hardware stores with just a few rods in a package for $5 or so. Beats buying a whole pound for close to $50... --Glenn Lyford

Reply to
Glenn

Another candidate is wood stove door gasket adhesive. It's also similar to furnace cement, but much tougher. When I replaced the gasket last fall on a stove I built 25 years ago I had to chip off the old adhesive with a hammer and cold chisel. The old timey hardware stores around here carry Rutland brand for about $7/tube.

Reply to
Ned Simmons

IIRC from looking at my Dad's 9N the "oil pan" remains a structural member of the frame even after the block is pulled out of the tractor.

I know that our neighborhood mechanic pulled the engine out of my Dad's and rebuilt it a few years ago, so it can't be impossible.

I suppose the really, really right way to go would be to strip it all the way down, build up the spot with welding or brazing, then machine it down nice and flat. On the way you can blueprint the engine.

You can get V-8 conversion kits for those, you know:

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_That_ will fix it!

Reply to
Tim Wescott

When I was young, a friend got too many wiskey tickets. So, he did this conversion (you don't need a licence to drive a tractor) People really looked at him funny when he passed them on the highway

When I got the manifold gaskets today, I asked the old fella in there what he used for this problem. JB-weld was the answer. So, my JB-weld job is drying right now.

Karl

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Reply to
Karl Townsend

The red high temp RTV silicone will last a very long time on exhaust gaskets, especially on your block which will limit the max temp pretty well.

----- Regards, Carl Ijames

Reply to
Carl Ijames

Clean it VERY well and use JB Weld The standard stuff NOT the fast setting. OR clean it very well, Hit it with some acid flux and braze it, then file it flat. OR weld it up with some nickel rod and file that flat. All of those can easily be done with the block installed. Stick some rags in the ports prior to doing the repairs.

Reply to
Steve W.

"Steve W." fired this volley in news:goi0s7$agb $ snipped-for-privacy@reader.motzarella.org:

I owned and loved a 1948/49/50 8N for fifteen years. It had numerous "prior repairs". Pretty much everything except the sheet metal (and the replacement 9N steering pitman arm) was repaired by brazing, and none of the repairs ever failed while I had it. The tractor is still mowing ten acres twice a month during the growing season for the guy I sold the ranchette to. The only "major" I had on it was when the right axle arm broke clean off at the frame. Spares were thankfully only a day away.

Now I have a bigger "ranchette" (20 acres), and have a 1968 air-cooled diesel Deutz 56. It's never had the heads off (thank God!).

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 14:04:47 -0600, the infamous "Karl Townsend" scrawled the following:

I retired from wrenching in '85 but up until then, I'd never heard of anything which would withstand those high temps. Is it possible to run a weld bead, then grind it flat, to fill in the gap enough that the standard manifold gasket can seal it?

I take that first sentence back. I think there was some silvery goop called muffler sealer way back when. I vaguely remember gooping it on a blown exhaust pipe, wrapping it with the asbestos (real!) gauze, and putting the tin cover around that with a hose clamp. That was on my first car, a '57 Chebby BelAir ca. 1969, and probably my first of many purchases from the J.C. Whitney catalog. (ancient memories!)

I wouldn't want to goop it and try to take that manifold off again, though. Hmm, if you use that stuff, wipe some copper anti-seize on the manifold at that point. Then pray that it works like a mold release agent in case you ever have to go back in there.

-- "Not always right, but never uncertain." --Heinlein -=-=-

Reply to
Larry Jaques

There is very high temp wood stove gasket RTV - it is fortified and is RED.

That might be a concept.

Mart> On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 14:04:47 -0600, the infamous "Karl Townsend"

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

The Red HI-Temp silicone is the best, but I've even had good luck with the regular bathtub (silicone)---You might want to form a little screenwire into a pill that would reinforce the rubber if the blow-out is very large.

Mart> There is very high temp wood stove gasket RTV - it is fortified and is RED. >

Reply to
Jerry Wass

Well, everybody else has had their say, but my experience with the red, black, and blue "high -temperature" RTV goo was that they WILL NOT withstand the temps at the manifold - at least not on my old Panhead.

I was cutting pieces of brass shim stock to eliminate the leaks on the old "clamp the pipe around the header boss" system (lots of popping when I let off the throttle), and sealing the rest with RTV. The above compounds all got brittle and blew out in a few days.

What I did find that worked was a Copper-colored high-temp RTV (from Permatex, IIRC) that held fine for several years. Whereas most RTV smells of acetic acid, this stuff had an odor similar to latex paint.

Best bet is , as others said, to create good mating surfaces, but I didn't have that option, and you might not, either.

Joe

Reply to
Joe

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