A Lovely Old Spinster, Virgin No More!

[Gerald Morris]

Probably overkill and will certainly get you wet but I've used these pressure washer clog hoses to free up heavy clogs in pipes big and small. The thing that makes it better than a hose are the jets that that face backwards and pull the snake in farther. I never used it on an engine but never had that much hard clogs. Plus , as designed, will knock out a drainage clog in no time. It will also bore a hole for a new drain.
View attachment 493544

Overkill ad absurdum here bro. I bought a drain snake which will go through that jacket nicely. I used my current one to good effect on Trudi Saturday in fact. Also consider that some of the other gaskets and joints in the cooling system may not do so well with a pressure washer like that. Still, the idea appeals. Will research it a bit, later. For now, its Roto Rooter and Thermocure with garden hose. The Plan calls for repeated thermocure treatments which will drain from the middle expansio plug ports. I'm using rubber bungs for those until satisfied with these "enemas" to facilitate access. Once I'm sure the coolant jacket is as empty of debris as can be, I'll close the ports up with brass plugs. This little detail I've PLENTY practice at, with my '66 New Yorker of 16 yrs ago, Mathilda, and now Gertrude. It galls me to remove perfectly strong, sound steel plugs from this engine, but the accumulated debris behind them brooks no dispute that the job needs doing, NOW. I suspect that the driver side WON'T be so bad as the passenger side though, given that there is no heater-pump here cobbled on in such a way as to sabotage normal, correct coolant flow.

I hated that damned thing the first time I saw it and naught since has improved my opinion of such devices. Short circuits ALWAYS DAMAGE MACHINERY, be they common electrical ones, or equally common, though seldom diagnosed FLUID DYNAMIC SHORT CIRCUITS! The principles apply in both realms. Take heed!

 

[bnz84]

Less aggressive... I have used one of these hose attached drain uncloggers on my engine. Does a pretty good job of reverse flushing against gravity. It build pressure in the bladder and seal itself to the sides and then shoots out a jet when the pressure is exceeded. But it doesn't lose all pressure and fall out. It will leak pretty good but that's what a call a garage floor cleaner bonus. U can watch it bubble out the water pump and even leave it unattended for a little while. Would be nice if it was heated water. They make them in different sizes.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Less aggressive... I have used one of these hose attached drain uncloggers on my engine. Does a pretty good job of reverse flushing against gravity. It build pressure in the bladder and seal itself to the sides and then shoots out a jet when the pressure is exceeded. But it doesn't lose all pressure and fall out. It will leak pretty good but that's what a call a garage floor cleaner bonus. U can watch it bubble out the water pump and even leave it unattended for a little while. Would be nice if it was heated water. They make them in different sizes.

View attachment 493577

Got one of those! Yes, that might be right. Let's run the Thermocure Enema soon, then we'll use the hose blaster.

 

[Gerald Morris]

NOW we're ready! Squirted a little 5W-20 into each bore after cleaning, then swabbed the deck w acetone. Time to CLOSE IT UP!

 

[Gerald Morris]

Here's where being "Mr. Meticulous Autistic" pays off. I liked labeling each bolt as I pulled it. The baby food jar contains hexachloro-ethylene,

NOT, as my olfactory bulb slightly misled me into thinking 'twas C-Cl4. Still a great cleaner for non-polar guck, to use Scientific Language.

The gasket lays ready to have the head and be bolted: The board I thought would serve as a good rail to help guide the head down, but I had

to just put my foot down on the ground up front by the fuel pump, and CAREFULLY curl that iron down, put my bare fingers under it just above the dowels, then ease the head onto them. It went pretty nicely, and God-willing, should seal. I then put my numbered, cleaned, (with a PLASTIC brush!) bolts in, after dabbing a spare amount of 5W-20 on one side of the threads, wiping it around to just coat them, then torquing them down as per MoPar's venerable instructions.

Ithen put the rocker arms and pushrods back in place, once again, happy that God gave me the wisdom to LABEL every rod on the top end. (Avery labels, 1" x 3") Despite my ot using a rod to lean all the pushrods on as in the FSM, I got the pushrods all nested into their tappets, and seated each rocker arm atop its pushrod, then torqued down, from one end to the other as I aligned and seated each pair of pushrods. Easy enough that way.

I then put the new cork valvecover gasket in its valvecover, and put it loosely on the head. Until I secure the intake manifold, I'll probably leave the valvecover loose, in case I need to nudge something....

One Last pleasure to Share for now: I pressed out that damned warm-up flap valve in the exhaust log! This motor will never be afflicted by that source of overheating again.

See how handy a 20 ton press at home can be? Every Moparian should have one!

 

[Mr C]

While you're in there toss that clear plastic fuel filter for a metal one like Chrysler used originally (I see one on the other end of the fuel pump)...don't want a fire like was recently reported here. I forget by whom...getting old.

 

[Ripinator]

While you're in there toss that clear plastic fuel filter for a metal one like Chrysler used originally (I see one on the other end of the fuel pump)...don't want a fire like was recently reported here. I forget by whom...getting old.

I second that. Either NAPA Gold or WIX. Very inexpensive and all the factory style clamps and short hoses are included in the box.

 

[Gerald Morris]

While you're in there toss that clear plastic fuel filter for a metal one like Chrysler used originally (I see one on the other end of the fuel pump)...don't want a fire like was recently reported here. I forget by whom...getting old.

I'll do that as soon as I'm confident that the gas line, as well as tank, is CLEAN! See, for the first couple weeks I drove Trudi, her old gas tank was literally half full of dead rat carcasses and unholy amounts of fecal matter, hair et al. I only found the FULL HORROR after swapping this mess out for the nice, shiny, clean tank from Mathilda. Be that as 'twas, I knew the gas tank was "a bit dirty" so I ran with these cheap see-thru plastic filters in order to assess quickly when they had clogged with debris. Those filters lasted about 2 days, or 40 miles of operation.

I ran a good stiff rebar wire through the front steel line after swapping the tanks, and am sure of that one. The rear line is afflicted with more difficult turns, and my 3 yr old brat then disrupted my work that day, sooooo, it remains as 'twas.

I actually use Wix filters when I can get them. Like so many other quality products, the supply chain for Wix here has attenuated to breaking. Mineral based motor oil? FORGET IT!!!! "Whatchya drivin', a brontosore?", I got asked last weekend.... I'll hopefully be able to lose the cheap plastic after seeing that Gertrude's "impacted colon surgery" succeeded. I plan to open the driver side this afternoon. Unless there are unusual, remarkable problems with this HALF of the job, I shan't comment much, as it should be less badly clogged here. One item of interst though: There is NO standing room on the drivers side of the engine compartment! Consequently, I can't get in close to the engine to safely handle the cylinder head. Removal presents its own issues, but INSTALLATION, after the pain and time invested in preparing block and head is far FAR TOO CRUCIAL TO LEAVE TO MY FEEBLE MUSCLES TO COMPETENTLY RE-SEAT THAT HEAD ON A VIRGIN GASKET!!!

So, I limbered up my shop crane, extended the boom another 24" with some unistrut, properly bolted into the main boom, and now can handle that ~60# iron with ease and precision. I'll show that off soon enough, going, then coming, as I figure there are more than a few elderly men (or women) attending to this Forum who can benefit from such lore. My MAIN reason for typing and showing in detail what surely is a monotonous bit of drudgery to seasoned mechanics is to give hope and courage to those folk who WANT to do their own jobs, but FEAR to. My work here is for THEM.

 

[Gerald Morris]

I second that. Either NAPA Gold or WIX. Very inexpensive and all the factory style clamps and short hoses are included in the box.

I know. I've bought them. In fact, the metal filter IS a Napa Gold/WIX one! I like the screw clamps though for ease of removal.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Evening Developments, 10-27-21: As expected, there was VERY LITTLE DEBRIS CLOGGING THE COOLANT JACKET ON THE DRIVER SIDE OF THIS ENGINE!!! DEO GRATIS!!!! I also thank my Lord that He preserved my grasp of Fluid Dynamics, which enabled me to predict accurately this situation! Some IDIOT, (which will remain un-named and un-replied to, henceforth, as its ugly charge of subjectivism showed not mere bigotry, but stupidity beyond mortal ability to repair. This ilk has a name in my theology, as taught by my Church: Invincibly Ignorant.) baldly stated that it thought the after market coolant heater-pump which so badly clogged the passenger side by virtue of its diverting the proper flow of coolant, short circuiting that flow OUTSIDE the engine altogether, was NOT EVEN THE PROBLEM. The moron is hung up on thermostats and such. I saw another thread from 5 years ago, also afflicted by a dimbulb obsessed by thermostats. I posit such creatures invariably will comment with their poor obsession any time any overheating issue opens on this Forum.

ANYWAAAAY, the driver side head came off easily with the help of my shop crane, as shown below:

HANDY isn't it? It will be more so when time comes to INSTALL the head, over the new gasket. Yes, that's poor Mathilda in front of Gertrude. See now why I had to extend the boom?

 

[413]

@Gerald Morris

Are you doing OK? Did the 383 eat you alive? what’s happening on this project?
Have a great Halloween with the family.

My thermocure advise. Manually clean out all the debris you can and rinse until clean. Pull off the heater hose and gently flush it with the garden hose so,it’s clean water in there. Wait until it’s all back together and running on water and not leaking. Should be able to figure out in a fairly soon, then put in the thermocure. The instructions say to drive with it. The heat really helps. I did it for a few days. Then rinse it out well a Few times draining the sides of the block saves a lot of time rinsing. Pull off the heater hose and gently rinse the heater core with the garden hose. Then put in the freeze plugs and the antifreeze.

Of course this assumes your water is decent and not hard water full of minerals If it is hard that complicates the garden hose idea. You could hold the heater hose high and mount a funnel to the end and pour in distilled water to flush the core.

 

[Gerald Morris]

@Gerald Morris

Are you doing OK? Did the 383 eat you alive? what’s happening on this project?
Have a great Halloween with the family.

My thermocure advise. Manually clean out all the debris you can and rinse until clean. Pull off the heater hose and gently flush it with the garden hose so,it’s clean water in there. Wait until it’s all back together and running on water and not leaking. Should be able to figure out in a fairly soon, then put in the thermocure. The instructions say to drive with it. The heat really helps. I did it for a few days. Then rinse it out well a Few times draining the sides of the block saves a lot of time rinsing. Pull off the heater hose and gently rinse the heater core with the garden hose. Then put in the freeze plugs and the antifreeze.

Of course this assumes your water is decent and not hard water full of minerals If it is hard that complicates the garden hose idea. You could hold the heater hose high and mount a funnel to the end and pour in distilled water to flush the core.

That 383 TRIED to eat me alive, but like MANY other monsters from my past, found me bad tasting and IN-digestible!

I got her all together last night, returned the rental U-haul I had for the past 5 days, then popped the last spark plug wire in place, #7, attached the heater hoses, and turned her over.

And turned, and turned, and turned.... sick despair rose in my gorge, but I DO have GOOD CAUSE for greater self-confidence than THAT! 'Twas LATE last night, near the very fag-end of a 12 hour day with Gertrude, after 9 days of this ****, and I actually "MADE A BOO-BOO!"

Turned out I had the rotor in the distributor 180 degrees out of phase! Grrrr! So I turned it, and she FIRED RIGHT UP! That certainly made our day here!

I already noted how good oil pressure was while CRANKING the motor. This engine had a cam put in it some time not long before it got parked. THAT CAM IS PRISTINE AND THE LOBES ARE STILL SHARP! Not razor sharp, but you can dig what I'm saying. Even the lube looked fresh on the bearings. Grey stuff. I left all that alone.

Anyway, I noted that my idle oil pressure when cold had gone up from 48 to 52 psi at about 600 rpm. Nice! Looks like I didn't screw up the gasket job, which is a HUGE RELIEF!!!

But, even with snaking some of that crap out of the coolant jacket, she still heats up too much, too quick. I put the Thermocure in, as they directed after an initial hose flush through the heater hoses, just as most folks do now. MY hose tee was made by UNION CARBIDE! Another trinket of Faded Past Glory. (I have 10 NOS Union Carbide/EverReady 4000 lo beam lamps I scored a few yrs back for less than $2 each. SCORE!)

So, I reckon I'll cruise her around, flush this batch in a few days, pop the rubber bung in the middle of the freeze plug row on the passenger side, put my hose nozzle INSIDE and BLAST! BTW, the DRIVER SIDE hadn't A DAMNED PEBBLE IN THE COOLING JACKET!!!! ITS CLEAR!! I LOOKED and LOOKED DAMNED WELL, using my lasers, LED flash lights and even a small mirror. The walls were rusty, but NO DEBRIS!!

Just SEEING into the coolant jacket made this job worth the pain. I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE the **** IS: THE BACK PASSENGER SIDE QUARTER UNDER #6 AND #8. I snaked some of that mess just to get the block to finish draining, then snaked some more to get some of the crap loose. I used my air compressor and the snake to bust loose what I could then. It helped SOME, but I was glad I had bought 2 quarts of Thermocure then, and still am. The front quarter of the passenger side now reads the same temperatures as the driver side. THAT'S an improvement already.

The tap water here is VERY hard with calcium carbonate, which in the presence of iron and the wrong organic acids can make some very hard crystals. Since the car was in Cochise County, closer to the Great Divide, the water would be FAR worse there than here. I saw evidence of tap water use in the cooling system the first time I opened the radiator. I was right.

I might get 5 gallons of filtered drinking water for the next Thermocure enema. That will have a lower pH than the garden hose stuff. I expect to flush THAT treatment Saturday.

Depending on how the first flush goes, I should be able to assess progress well enough to determine if I need to order more Thermocure by midweek.

I need a new radiator too. This one has a busted top tank. Even without that, its a damned puny radiator for a 383. I reckon I'll get another of Frank Watson's aluminum radiators. I prefer his work to that sneaky chinese stuff from Cold Case. THOSE bastards can't even be bothered to make 18" x 22" radiators with the 1.5" top, and 1.75" bottom ports. I asked them via email about this, and they claimed they need MY precious 1965 2524984 as a template to make such. I call BULLSHIT! Later, I found the REAL reason for their sub-sized 22" radiators: they want "one size fits all" with their 16" x 22" and can't be bothered to make stuff properly proportioned for C bodies. TYPICAL chinese practice: VERY PROCRUSTEAN. So its NO CASE for COLD CASE. Their radiator served me alright until Spring of this year, but it could have been better. Watson's stuff is a better value per dollar and HIS stuff really is U.S. made! I like that.

I'll post some "post operative pics" of the Gertrude surgery tomorrow. I'm BEAT tonight. Here's what the engine looks like without 100 lbs of ossified rat excrement covering it:

 

[detmatt]

Good work Gerald!

 

[Gerald Morris]

Good work Gerald!

THANK YOU Matt! THIS is my FIRST SUCCESSFUL head gasket change! All 3 of my previous experiences either exacerbated the problem or simply were on hopeless cases. Admittedly, those also were done either LONG ago, or were on other folks' engines, which I had NO prior knowledge of. Still, this is a milestone, and I'll take all the details of my ordeal with me for the NEXT HEAD JOB, which, alas, I will have to do in due course. At LEAST, I pray, I can have the engine UP ON A STAND AND NOT WHERE IT IS BREAKING MY BACK!! ARRRRGGGHH! The Second Law of Thermodynamics ruthlessly grinds and burns us all away in this Kosmos. NO ESCAPE!

BUT, I DID push back the bounds of entropy on this motor a bit, Deo gratias! NOW, if I can just SOLVE THE PROBLEM, I'll be truly content. I pray the Thermocure enemas will do the job on that pile of crap back under cylinders #6 & 8. We'll see within the week. But I can at least get groceries and cigarettes again. That helps.

Bless you Matt, again.

 

[Gerald Morris]

No Joy in Mudville today. The passenger side gasket held about 15 minutes when I first ran the car after the replacements. It NOW leaks copiously at the very rear of the passenger head, cylinder #8, and overheats the coolant in 3 minutes running from a cold start. I'll try pulling the valve cover and exhaust manifold loose and tightening or replacing the head bolts on that corner, and will see if that measure might yet save this engine from being parted down, but this is the End. The Thermocure worked very well at clearing the block of debris, as reputed, but THAT may have exacerbated this leak for all I know.

I would LOVE to SAVE THIS MOTOR, because it RUNS nicely, but it won't if abused by overheating and compromised lubrication. It still develops decent oil pressure, but I dare not run it as it is.

If re-torquing and possibly replacing some head bolts does nothing good for this motor, then it will be time to put my other one into this body. At least THAT one,despite issues with valves and such, runs cool and has for over five years. I now think I understand why this car got parked in a barn for some decades.....

ALL of you who have contributed advice on this project get my sincere thanks. It has occurred to me and my wife that there well may be a nasty CRACK lurking beneath some yet unremoved rat excrement, dirt and oil near that rear cylinder. Whatever may be, if there is something beyond the head gasket not sealing well back there, then that seals the engine's fate.

I'll post pictures of the work up to reassembly and trial, as promised a couple days past. While I've not despaired utterly, I know when I'm likely beat in a battle. This one, to save and use this 383, seems now to be lost.

 

[cbarge]

Worst case scenario..pull the motor from the wreck jam it in so you can drive the vert and investigate the 383 in your spare time.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Pity I didn't have a TRUE straight edge. I warned the Babushka that this ruler, while good for most of my shop work, wasn't true.

I figured if I couldn't jam a .002" feeler under that ruler, I probably was OK. Now, I remind myself that with head gaskets, 99.9% STILL FAILS!

Here's a handy tip for those who view the exhaust crossover as affliction. You can press the flap pin out, then remove the thing. I returned the pin to the manifold, just to close the hole ,made for it.

Here's the intake manifold, scrubbed, then burnished. At least I sealed THAT properly. NO evil hiss of vacuum leak ANYWHERE. That carb never gave trouble on the other motor, and likely will be returned to it, at least, until I can get the Edelbrock 1405 rebuilt.

And here's the block, also cleaned and burnished for the intake, with the heads already seated and bolted down. Note I used gaskets with the

valley pan, as per FelPro's directions. The ONLY "unorthodox" thing I did with this job was re-using the head bolts on the passenger side. They cleaned up seemingly well, and I was able to turn a test nut over them by hand. I didn't DARE use a die on those threads, for fear of removing metal from the bolts. The bolts from the driver side head did NOT clean up so well, so I used the ARP bolts there. I probably SHOULD have done so on this side too, but even THAT might not have mattered. I'm apt to think so now. The way this whole problem appeared, and so rapidly grew suggests there may be something amiss yet unseen. Only that first "Hot" light appearance spurred me to get the temp gauge hooked up, and I'm glad I had an extra one handy!

Many seasoned mechanics on Youtube prefer to use just the aluminum valley pan with RTV for their intake gasket. I saw this opinion in print also. I took the extra trouble, spent the extra $12 on the Felpro fiber gaskets and used them because that leveled the corners up as can be seen even in the pic above. I saw clear evidence of ONE set of fiber gaskets used by presumably MoPar with the old valley pan and intakes, under the valley pan.

Like anything else with any atmospheric exposure, the intake showed some erosion beneath before cleaning.

There are more pics, but these cover the process well enough. If some detail arises in discussion, I might have a picture or not.

 

[Gerald Morris]

Worst case scenario..pull the motor from the wreck jam it in so you can drive the vert and investigate the 383 in your spare time.

Yep, that's been Plan B from the beginning. I reckon I might investigate my 400 first though! Come to think of it, the crank and cam from this 383 might be just the thing for a late 70s 400. The 452 heads are fairly similar to the 906 also....

 

[cbarge]

Yep, that's been Plan B from the beginning. I reckon I might investigate my 400 first though! Come to think of it, the crank and cam from this 383 might be just the thing for a late 70s 400. The 452 heads are fairly similar to the 906 also....

The 400 crank is stout so no need to "destroke" the 400.
I am a big fan of 452 heads and thats whats on the 66 La Chrysler..
The valves and ports are the same size and hardend valve seats are a big plus in savings when it comes to refreshing them.

 

[Gerald Morris]

The 400 crank is stout so no need to "destroke" the 400.
I am a big fan of 452 heads and thats whats on the 66 La Chrysler..
The valves and ports are the same size and hardend valve seats are a big plus in savings when it comes to refreshing them.
View attachment 495375

GOOD to know. Yes, I knew the valve seats are hardened on the 452 heads. I WANT to prep a set of 915s for use, eventually, but THAT is a long term proposal, and will require new hardened seats. For this month, I'll be happy to get that vert MOVING RELIABLY. We now HAVE the FULL TOP and rear window, but its of no use until I get a reliable plant running in it. Mathilda's will HAVE to serve. I've done about all a man can reasonably do with what's in the '68 now, and loathe as I am to pull it, I must. The rapid rate this overheating issue and coolant leak has taken smells of cracked iron. That might have been why it got parked decades ago to start with.