'65 Rubicon Rig

Well last weekend was a bust for jeep work, but good for the snowpack. Today everything is back to normal road-wise, except for the hoards of flatlanders that are mysteriously drawn to deep snow. Anyway, picked up the head from Danny, he explained everything to me: valve guides, seats, 3 angle valve grind, valve seals, reassemble. He also uses a loctite high temperature glue behind the seats to seal and dissipate heat. Which he says was one of the benefits of leaded gas, dissipating heat away from the exhaust valve. Old and new.

Looks great, and I am very happy with a skilled machinist that does good work in a timely manner for a reasonable price, in 2024 no less.

Before I paint it, I removed these little emissions port plugs that were in the old head. Not sure where you would get these if you needed them. Installed in the new head.

On the old head, I wanted to see what started all this, so I drove the number 3 exhaust seat out. It was wet behind it between the 2 valves.

After a little clean up, there are 3 small dark spots that could be pinholes into the water jacket between the valves. I think this is the smoking gun.

 

You are lucky to find a good machinist. Did he use the newer style Viton seals or the old rubber style valve seals?

 

You know, I didn't ask that, and it's hard to see now. Can you explain umbrella seals if you don't mind?

 

I should have said did he replace the umbrella seals with the new style seal which requires cutting of the top of the guide to fit. Yes, they are hard to see even if colored.
The advantage is to wipe the valve stem better and smoke less on start up after a period of sitting. A more positive seal. Leaks down the stem less.

The original seals would have been like these.

 

John, yes I can see the top style in there. Thanks for the info.

 

Good to hear that he went the extra mile.

 

I want to get this jeep back together soon, as spring is coming and I haven't even started on Woodstock yet. This POR15 product is what I have used for several years for engine paint. It helps when all my jeeps have the same motor. Buick Green is the color, and it dries fast, lasts a good while. I have sprayed entire engines, but for this I will brush 2 coats on.

First coat, took a few minutes, I will let this tack up a little before the second coat.

Next coat, looking nice and smooth now, but someone wants it moved outside, so the back deck had some sun. I'll let it off-gas there for a while.

By late afternoon the paint had smoothed out a lot, no brush marks, and don't ask me why this matters on a trail jeep. It was dry to the touch, so I moved it into the indoor drying station for the night. No smell now, so it was not questioned.

 

Well...I would say, cause you can. Looking good! I ended up using the Duplicolor Detroit Alpine Green engine paint with ceramic.
Spray cans and seemed like the thing to do at the time. Did the thought ever go through your mind to do both cylinder heads as
you had it down that far and had the gaskets? Or maybe the valves looked that good on the leaking head. Just curious.

 

I did think of the other side, but since this could be caused by the random offset core from the foundry, and no sign of leak on the other side, and the heads have maybe 1000 miles on them since they were last worked, I think i'll take my chances. That is based on not trying to get too far into project creep, as I am not looking for stuff to do. But yes, I did consider it. And cost. This was $350, plus gaskets and fuel and time.

 

With the paint dry overnight, I consult old trusty, the service manual. Just wanted to check on head bolt torque and sequence.

I cleaned all the head bolts, gave them a light coat of permatex thread sealant. Then spray copper on the head gasket and set it on there. Went through the torque sequence from the manual, and it's ready for the rocker assembly.

Dropped the push rods in, then lined up the rockers and slowly tightened. Made sure the push rods are properly seated.

Next I installed the intake valley gaskets on the block, and set the intake on the heads. Installed 4 bolts loosely, then slid the intake gaskets in. Went throught the torque sequence from the book.

Lastly for the afternoon, installed the header back to the head, tightened all bolts. Forgot the dipstick, had to go back for that one.

 

After work, work. Bolted the power steering pump back to the head, tightened the belt. Installed the distributor cap, and wires. New Champion plugs for both sides gapped and installed. All minor connections: hoses, electrical, fuel. Wet down with new oil and filter, new coolant, new power steering fluid. Jacked up the front end so I can cycle the steering to get most of the air out of the system before firing. Connect the battery, and fire it up briefly, then check oil, ps fluid and coolant. Top all off, fire it up and bring up to 180 degrees. Sounds good, no leaks.

The Murphys Law I was brought up with keeps me from putting the fender back on until everything checks out. So, the main winter prsoject on the Tux, (Sierra), are wrapped up. Fixed the leaky head, rebuilt and installed a 4-turn Saginaw box for slower steering.

All that's left is a test drive Saturday, too bad I can't get on a trail somewhere.

 

Somewhere on the Rubicon there's a rock.

That's the working title for my novel. No, somewhere Nick got the same twisted feeling enough to get the right front into the fender, 2 years in a row. I need a flange-straightening tool. Thinking about this.

I looked around for a sacrificial pair of vise grips, but no cheap ones to be found, so welded this pair.

Works pretty well, flange sort of straightened. I will look at extending the bump stop to prevent this again.

With that done, time for a test drive on a nice 45 degree Saturday. About 10 miles, up to 55, up to 180 degrees. No leaks so far. The new cylinder head seems fine, it's running great, and the new steering is slower, and safer on the highway.

 

all caught up. Seems I found this thread over time and then lost it, and then thread binged last two days on it.

Awesome stuff in this one.

thank you for posting.

 

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.