Keith,

In addition to gaskets that are advertised in the HET club magazine, the WTN, I have found a surprising number of gaskets, particularly small ones such as water pump or exhaust flange on ebay.

I'll be interested in your progress!

Per

As I work on my stuck 1950 commodore 8 cylinder:
Head is aluminum.
Any suggestions for removing the head?
I do have the head bolt torque and tightening sequence specs, and have heard that stud-to-head corrosion is a problem during removal.
Any good forum threads for reference? Have seen none on first pass.

Keith

One way of breaking loose the head, I've heard, is to loosen the bolts (or nuts, as are used on my '37), then turn the engine over. The compression caused by the pistons might break it loose. Keep the bolts (or nuts) in place so the head doesn't become airborne.

The corrosion issue is mainly between the head and the studs. I saw a special tool for this purpose on ebay once, but got out bid on it. It was basically a thin walled hole saw that was long enough to go over the stud and cut out the corrosion around the studs. Then removal was much easier.

Tom Brintnall

Most likely if the head is that corroded it may not be re-useable any way. Iron heads are fairly common and hold up much better.

Tom

Keith,

I used a hollow drill as Tom describes, but my drill was somewhat bigger than the stud. On this '49 8 cylinder engine, only one stud was corroded onto the aluminum head. The head loosened up before I drilled all the way to the bottom, so the bottom surface of the head is still complete. If I wanted to, I could use this head again, but I would have to replace the metal I removed with some kind of filler, since the nearby water passages are exposed. I agree that iron heads are much easier to deal with.

Per

I am close to being able to pull the engine/tranny assembly on my 50 Commodore w/ straight 8 engine.
I have removed the stud bolts holding the tranny pad onto the cross member.
1. Does anyone know if there is a bolt going up thru the cross member and pad into the tranny?
(I can find none and the pad and tranny seem loose and have some cross-movement on the cross member. Maybe this bolt fell out or sheared off?)
2. With the tranny support cross member being welded in, it appears that the engine/tranny assembly should lift slightly and forward- out of the engine compartment.
Any tips before I get started on the lift?
Thanks in advance.

Soaking the studs after the nuts are all removed is recommended. Also, a shop manual is always a great tool. Next, with all the spark plugs removed, spend a little time and make special spark plugs. Knock the center from all the spark plugs that were removed,weld a wire with a loop to connect the engine crane in the center of several of them, screw them back into the spark plug holes, and now use them to lift the engine. It might make the head come up enough to spray penetrate again, let the tension off, pound the head back down, repeat this until it comes loose-OR until you give up ! Been there countless times! some give up, some don't. the aluminum head is not recommended to be re-used As Tom recommended, cast iron head!

Keith, there was no access on some '50 models at the transmission mount. There was a TSB about how to change the trans mount and make the provision. Just remove the 2 , 5/16th's bolts on either side of the mount will make it loose. After you get the engine and trans out, take a hole saw a cut the hole in the center for access to the bolt that goes up into the bell-housing in the future..