Sudden Low Compression

[lyle11]

In defense of HF left hand drill bits, I bought a small set about 3 or 4 years ago and have used them as needed. I've only broken one of the smaller ones and that was my fault that it got in a abnormal stress situation. I've not had any other problems with them and they cut pretty good. You should clean up the block and temporarily replace the head with enough bolts to hold it in position and center punch the broken bolts. If you can come up with a guide to hold the bit in the center of the hole it will make the job go easier. At one time there was a loaner tool available for this purpose. Last I knew it was at mvhicrop's shop, the site of LACubfest. Stan

Since I'm not very patient

In defense of HF left hand drill bits, I bought a small set about 3 or 4 years ago and have used them as needed. I've only broken one of the smaller ones and that was my fault that it got in a abnormal stress situation. I've not had any other problems with them and they cut pretty good. You should clean up the block and temporarily replace the head with enough bolts to hold it in position and center punch the broken bolts. If you can come up with a guide to hold the bit in the center of the hole it will make the job go easier. At one time there was a loaner tool available for this purpose. Last I knew it was at mvhicrop's shop, the site of LACubfest. Stan

Stan, Thanks for feedback on HF drill bits. I really don't have that much experience with HF, but since I have limited time here to wait for online delivery of higher quality drillbits, I went to Menards and Harbor Freight today. Since they're in a town 25 miles away I bought the Menards Tool Shop (cheap) brand left hand drill bit since that's all they carry. Then I went to Harbor Freight and I bought their extractor kit with left hand drill bits. No intention of using the extractors, but that's the only way I could get the drill bits.

I have had very little success extracting frozen bolts. But I figured between two sets of them maybe they would hold up long enough using multiple bits to get the bolts drilled out.

As I expected, the Menards bits were junk. Even with constant oil from my helper, they stopped cutting material before I could make any progress.

However, I was very pleasantly surprised with the Harbor Freight bits. I was able to drill out all three bolts, actually in fairly short order once I was confident in the bit and could apply some pressure as my helper applied constant oil.

In one of the three holes, I was able to pull out the remaining material with a needle nose. Ran a thread chaser through it and looks fine. The other two still have material that needs to be removed so tomorrow I'm going to go to True Value Hardware and I think they sell individual taps probably with a drill bit I don't need. But they should be, I think, decent quality and hopefully they'll work to re-cut and clean up the material that's in the old threads.

If that all works, it looks like Hamilton Bob's has the head gasket and the head bolts that I need with delivery between Tuesday and Thursday this coming week. (Probably Thursday).

Now I have to read up on the bolt tightening sequence, torque, etc. as well as recommendations from other's experience.

I still couldn't see anything obviously wrong with the head gasket, but like I said this is all new to me. However, on the head, as I was cleaning it up, I saw between cylinders 2 and 3 a shiny spot. Not sure if it means anything. But it does look different, so I thought perhaps it indicated that the head gasket separated from the head surface.

 

[staninlowerAL]

When you are re-tapping the holes, don't get too aggressive with the force!!!!! (Don't ask me how I learned that!!) If you break a tap in the hole your problem just got a lot worse. I would drill the hole as much as you can before using the tap. Make multiple passes with the tap and clean out the debris. If worse come to worse, you can go up to 3/8 and still not have to enlarge the bolt hole in the head. Just take it easy, be patient and use plenty of lubricant like TAP MAGIC. And good luck!! Stan

 

[staninlowerAL]

Here's a couple of pages of info on the head. There's probably some info in the Owners manual as well. Use Indian Head or Copper Kote or a good quality sealer on the gasket when you go to install it. Stan

 

[Glen]

Hi,
The people on here say to use copper sealer spray on the head gasket.
The head bolts need non hardening sealer on the threads.
Below are pictures of 2 brands of sealers.
I sent you a message, you get to it near the top right of the page. Good luck.

 

[staninlowerAL]

The thread sealer is important because some of the head bolts go through into the water jacket of the engine and without the thread sealer water will weep up the threads and you'll have a leak. Stan

 

[lyle11]

When you are re-tapping the holes, don't get too aggressive with the force!!!!! (Don't ask me how I learned that!!) If you break a tap in the hole your problem just got a lot worse. I would drill the hole as much as you can before using the tap. Make multiple passes with the tap and clean out the debris. If worse come to worse, you can go up to 3/8 and still not have to enlarge the bolt hole in the head. Just take it easy, be patient and use plenty of lubricant like TAP MAGIC. And good luck!! Stan

Got a tap at Ace and thread cutting lube from Harbor Freight. Ace sold taps but no thread cutting oil (makes a lot of sense) so I drove 35 miles to get some at Harbor Freight. I didn't want to take any chances.
I did as you suggested and got all three holes threaded. Set the manifold in place to make sure everything was straight and lined up to allow all bolts to thread in. Had trouble getting the bolt started in one re-tapped hole. Put the tap through the manifold into the hole to clean it up a little. Got tap in about an inch and it broke. Wasn't giving that much resistance but, I took the head off and fortunately the tap came out easily with 1/2" protruding.

I chased the threads in the 12 other holes and made sure I could get a bolt threaded in for all with the manifold in place.

There is a Case IH dealer 20 miles away. Probably could get the head gasket for me in a day or two. But I definitely need new head bolts.

I would love to complete this install but I won't need to mow again until May and my FCub is working good. Parts wouldn't arrive until late Wednesday at best more likely Thursday. I can only stay here a few more days. I have to winterize this place and don't want to feel rushed plus no lights in shed where Cub is located and colder this coming week.

So, I'll order my parts from TM and get up to speed on the procedure and resume working on it in April. Might also make sense to spray out the water jackets with it so accessible and check the valves. Plus I can rig up a pony tank especially with the second bolt torque after it warms up.

At least I feel pretty good about it with everything now ready to move forward, just lacking parts. Guess I'll wipe a thin coat of motor oil on internals and set the head in place.

 

[lyle11]

Hi,
The people on here say to use copper sealer spray on the head gasket.
The head bolts need non hardening sealer on the threads.
Below are pictures of 2 brands of sealers.
I sent you a message, you get to it near the top right of the page. Good luck.

Thanks a lot Glen. Thats very helpful.

 

[staninlowerAL]

Definitely get a new set of head bolts. You can also get them from sellers like McMaster Carr, Threaded Fastener, Fastenall, etc. The last set that I bought was from Fastenall, Grade 9, cost about $50 but that's been a while ago. You'll probably notice that those are stock length and some are about 1/4 inch too long. You can either cut the excess length off or use a grade 8 flat washer on the bolt to take up the extra length. JMHO Stan
EDIT: FWIW, I looked up the invoice on the head bolts, they cost $12.88 for the 9 ea 2.5 inch and $10.80 for the 6ea 3.5 inch. A couple of other items ran the bill to $54.30 including shipping and taxes. And it was a while ago--June, 2015 to be exact. Also I misquoted on the size, they're 3/8" x 16. Stan

 

[staninlowerAL]

Here's the parts list from the manual in case you need part numbers.