Help...what did I do wrong?

I found something I felt looked strange. A couple of my head bolts had the sides of the shank of the bolt, ground down. You had two flat spots 180 out for about 1.5" of the bolt. Anyone ever seen that done and why?...ZZ
 
I know the number 153624 pretty well these days.

Back in school, I was changing the plugs on a motor. Put the leads back onto the plugs in the head, and went to start it up. It wouldn't kick over, so I pumped the throttle a bit. Just then, a nice big fireball full of half-burnt fuel burned my fringe off.. Yes. Turns out I got it wrong way around :roll:

At least the gasket failed right away, and not a few miles down the road!!
 
its ok ive done somthing almost the same....

a little while ago i went to check the float level on my autolite 1100. so i took the top of the carb off, i adjusted the float put the gasket back on and it wouldnt start.....i took that thing off about 5 times(thats alot of skrews... :oops: ) only to find that the gasket was bloking the accel. pump.... i felt really dumb but also releived that it was only a gasket that i messed up on.
 
I remember hearing a story. This gentleman would never hire anybody who claims to have never done anything wrong, because that meant he had never done anything. :wink:
 
CobraSix":moyo8v4l said:
I just can't believe I didn't catch that...I feel so stupid...

Slade

Dont worry about it...I could tell you about the time I put new intake, carb. and valve covers on my 69 Cougar I had at time and in the excitement to test it forgot to put water in it. Had plenty of time to think about it sitting about 1/2 mile from home waiting for friend to bring me water.
 
Dean, it sounds like those head bolts you describe were to allow oil flow up to the rocker arm pedestal at the rear of the motor. I had been wondering if I was imagining it, when I faintly recalled such a thing.

Slade - good to see the fix is nothing major! :D I am just wary of those head bolts after the other week. If it feels like one bolt is turning too far compared to others, between torque steps, remove it, and look hard. You may well see "necking" where the threaded section starts - this precedes cracking.

Adam.
 
Backwards gaskets happen all the time with Small block Fords. The story usually starts with " i just rebuilt my engine and now it's overheating....".

The gaskets on that engine are the same, left and right. But they are marked "front". Often that means installing the left hand one (if it's a Felpro) so that it looks like it's upside down. Well, a lot of guys simply miss that one and the result is a lot of non fuctional coolant passages.

Now, in your case, I think you should get some sort of award...... 8) I think I have just the thing..... :)
 
Adam,

I'm going to keep a good eye on necking. I had that happed to my intake bolts on my old 91 explorer. snaped one right off. I checked them all out just to be sure, but I will be keeping a close eye on them.

I also bought some grade 8 washers to use as well, jsut to be sure, even though there were no signs of bottoming out. I'm also going to take some older head bolts and cut the ends off with my cutting wheel and use them as guides, especially since I'll be doing it by myself this time.

Oh well...only thing hurt is my pride...and some of the grass under my car.

Slade
 
Well,

After taking the rest of the weekend off from the mustang (just to make sure I go back at it with a clear un-pissed off mind) I will be attempting to put everything back in this afternoon. I'm getting real good at this.

Also...Jack...thanks for my new name.

Slade
 
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