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1954 Ford 850 Tractor w/blown Head Gasket (at the very least)

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vtsteam:
The welding went successfully, and I ground the sides and corners square again. Sorry I forgot to take a photo. I painted the plug, and an hour later reinstalled it in the oil pan. A 1" open end wrench fit it perfectly.

Because the old oil was such an evil looking mess, I decided to give the engine a rinse with some kerosene. I poured two  quarts in and let it sit a couple hours before draining again. I think that really helped clean the pan better, from the looks of it. Finally I re-tightened the drain plug and added 5 quarts of fresh oil to the crankcase.

I also changed the oil filter and started the manifold onto its studs:

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vtsteam:
I attacked the gas tank next. There was about a pint of old sour gasoline still in the tank, and I wanted to get that out  before mounting the tank on the tractor again. Not so easy. A flange around the filler hole blocked it from being poured that way. And the gas cock on the bottom of the tank didn't work well to drain the remaining fuel. There was a screen filter inside the tank and I had to shake the tank to get dribs and drabs out. Finally about a half a cup remained, and I called it done.

While the tank was upside down I noticed that it had been repaired -- there were stains around what looked like some loose filler. Yup, a hole, about 3/16" had been repaired with some kind of filler, that had deteriorated and was loose. I removed it and cleaned the area with moistened sandpaper (very slowly and carefully!) followed with a wipe of MEK and sealed it with a tube of goop I had in the shop that said it was specifically suitable for plugging gasoline tank leaks. Hope it does!

Next, it was time to remove the carburetor from the old manifold and check it. The glass sediment bowl was brown with varnish (not a good sign). I cleaned the sediment out, and painted the bowl with an orange based paint stripper. That cleaned it crystal clear again, Then I opened up the carburetor, expecting bad things. But it was surprisingly clean, and looked like a recently rebuilt carb. The only thing that probably should be replaced is the screen and cork gasket over the sediment bowl, since that looked to have started to deteriorate.

vtsteam:
I put the Zenith back together again, and decided to torque the manifold first before mounting the carb. Another simple job that took longer than anticipated. The old manifold had come loose easily with just a socket wrench and extension. But the new one (made in Turkey) seemed to have bigger passages and thicker cruder castings.

As a result, the socket wrench could no longer be used for all the bolts. Some needed a box end wrench, some needed an open end, and there was barely enough room to turn some of the nuts even then. One washer had to be omitted because there just wasn't room for it. I couldn't torque it because I couldn't get a socket on all the bolts. So in the end I just had to estimate.

At about this time my weather/emergency radio started beeping furiously in the shop. I at first thought a piece of equipment was sounding the alarm -- though I actually don't have anything like that! Finally I realized i was the emergency radio. I hit the button and got a message from the emergency management system that a really bad thunderstorm was approaching the county just to the north of us. 60 mph winds, and golf ball sized hail they said! Also it was in slow rotation, and they would issue additional warnings if a tornado started to form.

Time to put away tools and cover the tractor. I had just got the carburetor mounted, and grabbed a photo before chasing down the tarp, which the wind had moved to a nearby bush. Here is the tractor at the end of the day:

DavidA:
VT,

...I poured two  quarts in and let it sit a couple hours before draining again...

This could cause you problems.

I suspect that you may have just softened up the gunge that is laying on the bottom of the crankcase,  and this will come loose when you run the motor with it's new oil.

So you may get your oil filter bunging up in a very short time.

It would have been better to remove the sump and clean it out.

I would suggest,  if you don't want to do that (and who would) that you run the engine for a short while (until the oil is nice and warm) and then drain off the oil.  Replace it and the new filter.

Just my take on the possible problem.

Dave.

vtsteam:
Hi David, I'm sure (and did hope) that the kero did loosen up gunge on the bottom of the pan. And removed a lot of it along with the remaining old thickened black oil.

After that, the plan was as you mentioned, to run the motor a short time, get it up to temperature and then drain the oil and replace the filter a second time. It's a two stage process. That's why there's two filters shown in my supplies photo.

The ford has a full flow system. All oil is filtered.

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