| 1934 Ford | -- 11-11-2015 @ 5:36 PM |
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A couple weeks ago we went on a leaf peeping tour in western NC and NE Georgia in our 34 Fordor. We changed altitude about 2000 feet a couple times in the course of 50 miles and had a minor water leak into the front cylinder on the left side. Steam and oil pollution, but no hydra lock. I pulled the 81 year old aluminum head and found that one of the water holes near the front of the cylinder head had grown enough to leak past the gasket. I replaced the head & gasket with a new copper gasket and a cast iron head. Question: It the head worth saving? I think some aluminum welding to the water jacket holes and the re-surfacing would restore it. It's a pretty one. We put about 20,000 miles on the car with that head on a rebuilt engine doing every tour we could find after 2003. I never had to restore an aluminum head before, your advise is appreciated. Has anybody done this and is it worth the effort? I now have cast iron heads on both sides. The aluminum one was painted and I never realized it was aluminum, so not having one aluminum head is not a problem for me. What should I do with the head? Junk it, frame it, save it, fix it or sell it? Any value? 1934 Ford's since 1972
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| 40 Coupe | -- 11-12-2015 @ 4:09 AM |
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I just finished a pair of Eddie Meyer heads welding several of the water jacket holes and reworking them to Std. size. Aluminum is sometimes hard to weld and sometimes easy. You will only find out when the welder tries to fill. A nice appearing set of heads is well worth the try, since your looking at $1,000+ for a new replacement set. The welder will have to remove all the corroded material with a grinder to get back to fresh metal and V-out any cracks before trying to fill. Even then it may take a couple of tries to burn off deposits before a good weld can be maintained. Then the head will of course have to have any closed holes opened and the head milled. Do make sure there is enough material on the head for the milling. You don't want to get much closer to open valves than about 0.050" so clay the head before starting the project. It's good to know the welder's ability.
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| trjford8 | -- 11-13-2015 @ 1:16 PM |
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If it was my choice I would continue to use the cast iron heads and not bother with the aluminum. Unless it's a show car(concourse) The cast heads are much more reliable and don't have the problem of electrolysis.
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| 3w2 | -- 11-15-2015 @ 9:44 AM |
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The implication is that you are now using one aluminum head and one cast iron head. Methinks that's not healthy for your engine over time. Either replace the other aluminum head with a cast iron one or fix the damaged aluminum head that you have removed.
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| 1934 Ford | -- 11-15-2015 @ 1:35 PM |
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3w2, I actually have replaced the aluminum head with a cast iron one. Car was down for only a day. The other side is cast iron too. The engine was rebuilt before I bought the car in 2003. Both heads were painted and I just assumed they were both cast iron. Then a couple years ago I cracked the right side head (Cast iron) and replaced it with a like cast iron one. Now when I blew a head gasket on the left side I was surprised to find aluminum head when I took it off. My guess is that it has had one of each for nearly 20 years. Ran well enough to do a dozens of AACA Glidden type tours. I had the aluminum heads on another 34 Ford 30 years ago and polished them for the 1984 great American Race. I practiced for the event and my shiny heads wept. They were pretty, but never would have completed the two GAR's we did in that car. I too would not have done the one of each thing if I had known. Now I was wondering if it would be worth saving this head and repairing it for somebody else who needed a left side original aluminum head. 1934 Ford's since 1972
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| MG | -- 11-15-2015 @ 2:55 PM |
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Just buy yourself a pair of heads from http://www.the34fordroadster.com/restoring-the-original-finish-on-a-34-aluminum-intake-manifold/ and their heads and you'll never experience problems with aluminum heads again. Beautifully cast, original looking aluminum heads cast with modern day alloys and with Ford Script (and Ford Licensed). Money well spent....
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| JM | -- 11-16-2015 @ 8:17 AM |
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Another option to consider, if you want the appearance of aluminum on cast iron, is to have the outer surface area of the cast iron heads powder coated using a material that gives a final finish that looks just like aluminum. They won't likely pass for aluminum on concourse though, if the judge carries a magnet like I do, but they sure look nice. John
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