Ford 3400 gasser headgasket progress with pictures..

greymond

Member
here is a head gasket job I am currently doing on a 1966 Ford gas powered 3400.
The head gasket blew on the number one cylinder toward the exhaust manifold side. I figured why not post up a few pictures of the progress.
I am waiting on a slew of other parts, New water pump, tune up parts, oil filter, glass gas sediment thing and a whole load of other stuff. I'll post up some more pictures as it progresses. Should be sometime next week.


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a few more with the head going on.
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I have a '69 mode, fingers crossed it holds up for awhile. Any tips or things you'd do different to pass along? I've done them in cars plenty and can't imagine they would be much different.
 
Worthy project!
Those are great old tractors.
Did you have the valves done?
Good photos too. Were always glad to see the photos.
I'm surprised to see so little blue on it.
I thought that model - at least till 74/75? was all Blue except for the tin and wheels.
By the way, did you ever work on another vehicle that had such a handy battery tray - for tools and such?
 
I did have one exahust valve replaced. In addition to the keepers and seals. Basically a full valve job. The head guy said it was in surprisingly good condition considering the age.
This tractor was owned by a city for a short time and they painted it yellow. The more I clean it the more blue I start to see. I plan on brining it back to blue. I did paint a few spots behind the head where I wouldn't be able to reach once it was back on.
The tractor is a 66 or 67 3400 and YES that battery tray is a life saver! Very handy. Never seen another like that!
 
Not sure why the head gasket blew. I would think it was because the tractor sat for so long without being run frequently. The surfaces are not aluminum and electrolysis is not huge factor with these.
The head gasket job on these is very easy compared to a lot of head gasket headaches I deal with. The only real issue I ran into is finding the timing mark on the crank :D
Not easy to find
 
There are a few tips I would pass along now that I think about it..
Use a picker or something to lift it up off the block and get it back down evenly. The head is extremely heavy.
Make sure and take a square tube bar roughly 1" and wrap 80 grit sandpaper around it to sand the junk off the top of the block before mounting the head gasket. Make sure and CHASE the head bolt holes with the proper tap and then SPRAY them out with air. Very important!
Change the thermostat and water pump. Those could have been the reason the head gasket blew.
Deck the head if the gasket blew. It is cheap and good piece of mind.
Bead blast the hell out of the head! Then wash the hell out of it.
mine had 50 years of buildup on it. Took me an hour in the bead blaster.
Make sure the push rods are straight and clean them and the head studs and add a little oil to the thread when re inserting them. Also add some white lithium grease to the top of the bolt where it meets the head to make the torquing smooth.
Flush the block to clean out the gunk. Mine was loaded with junk. Stop leak, rust, oil sludge etc.
I usually clean and paint the parts I have pulled off. It reminds me later on what work I did to the rig. Plus, it looks good.
Most of all follow the manual for the correct head gasket R&amp;R procedure.
And change out parts that are easy to change while the head is out. It is pretty tight in there on these 3000 and 4000 engine bays.
 
More to come! I am waiting on parts. Of course I pull this thing apart smack dab in the middle of the holidays
:?
 
(quoted from post at 12:26:35 12/31/17) There are a few tips I would pass along now that I think about it..
Use a picker or something to lift it up off the block and get it back down evenly. The head is extremely heavy.
Make sure and take a square tube bar roughly 1" and wrap 80 grit sandpaper around it to sand the junk off the top of the block before mounting the head gasket. Make sure and CHASE the head bolt holes with the proper tap and then SPRAY them out with air. Very important!
Change the thermostat and water pump. Those could have been the reason the head gasket blew.
Deck the head if the gasket blew. It is cheap and good piece of mind.
Bead blast the hell out of the head! Then wash the hell out of it.
mine had 50 years of buildup on it. Took me an hour in the bead blaster.
Make sure the push rods are straight and clean them and the head studs and add a little oil to the thread when re inserting them. Also add some white lithium grease to the top of the bolt where it meets the head to make the torquing smooth.
Flush the block to clean out the gunk. Mine was loaded with junk. Stop leak, rust, oil sludge etc.
I usually clean and paint the parts I have pulled off. It reminds me later on what work I did to the rig. Plus, it looks good.
Most of all follow the manual for the correct head gasket R&amp;R procedure.
And change out parts that are easy to change while the head is out. It is pretty tight in there on these 3000 and 4000 engine bays.

What compound do you use in your bead blaster? I've been using 80 grit glass beads in mine...was wondering if the alum oxide would be better. Let me know
 
you know I am not sure... It is glass bead used primarily for blasting heads and head components. But we use it for everything. It is aggressive but not too aggressive. Just right for most parts.
It is the smaller bead I believe. I can look on tue. to make sure.
 
I have a 25% off coupon at Harbor freight today and tomorrow so I thought I would get some more glass beads. They do work good but was wondering if the alum. oxide would be better.
 
Honestly the biggest headache I am facing with this tractor is cleaning it. I have pressure washed it 3 times and soaked it in degreaser and mineral spirits. Getting it down to paint is proving near impossible. It is going to take a couple full days of scrubbing.
Today I stripped the carburetor of the yellow paint and I have been wire brushing it most of the afternoon.
After that I plan on sanding what I can and shooting it the Ford Blue. Rims a satin great and the bucket and arms a satin grey.
The city that owned this rig pulled it in the shop bay, loaded up a paint gun full of industrial yellow and painted every single crack and crevice.
 

I used dollar store oven cleaner to clean all the crud off mine. The fuel pump was completely covered, as in I didn't even know it was there (bypassed by previous owner) until I read about it in the book and on here. Lots of scrapping then ran it to warm energy thing up, hit it with oven cleaner and let it soak for a bit the power washer. A nice heated power washer with the spiral tip would be nice.

My loader is off right now and man, I wish I had it off while I went though it all last winter. So much more room for activities.
 
(quoted from post at 23:21:49 12/31/17) I use that citrus smelling orange stripper.. works real well... pressure wash it off

Progress today! And mostly success..
Got the top end and radiator back together today. Adjusted the valves and gave everything a good looksee for leaks then I turned the key to start it. Had good spark, fuel through the sediment bowl but couldn't get it to fire. Gave the battery a full charge and had my friend spray a little staring fluid to help the old gal out. Finally it kicked and bucked and fired. BUT only on the starting fluid. I couldn't get it to run off the carb. It did sound GREAT while it ran.. Smooth and clean and no water leaks. I did leak some oil around that damn old oil filter cover.
I pulled the carb and checked the bowl for fuel. Plenty of fuel in the bowl. It was then end of the day and I decided to hang it up till tomorrow. Something in the carb is off. I may end up getting a new carb. How are the rebuilt carbs at Yesterdays Tractor? Any complaints with those? Or the new Zenith one they have on their site?

Here are a few pics... One without the radiator.
More pics tomorrow and hopefully it will run.
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RUNS!

Changed the points out and it fired right up. Had to adjust the carb float back to level.
Next is setting the timing with a timing light. That should be fun.
Changing the points on this thing was a small nightmare. The bucket is a headache to work around.
Of course the oil canister leaked and I had to loosen it and adjust it a bunch of times before it finally stopped leaking.
I'll post up a small vid of the glory a little later
 

Good feeling when they run again.
How did the bores look when you had the head off? Ring ridge, etc.
If you do find you need a carb, most of us don't think much of those holleys. I won't even mess with one, just give them a toss and buy the Zenith from this site. Makes a tractor out of a missing, stumbling pos.
A lot of us don't use modern view here. Only classic view. Means a lot of us won't see these updates.
For future updates I suggest starting a new thread.
 
Bores looked surprisingly good. Great compression.
The carb does buck and spit a little too much for my liking. Thanks for the advice on that. I think I will eventually get that Zenith from the site.
I will use the classic from now on. I wasn't sure what was going on with that.
thanks again
 
are you talking about this zenith?? http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/Ford-3400_Carburetor-New_13914B.html
 
(quoted from post at 06:41:13 01/09/18)
A lot of us don't use modern view here. Only classic view. Means a lot of us won't see these updates.
For future updates I suggest starting a new thread.

I guess it all depends on what ones used to.
Being a member of a couple other forums that have formats similar to modern I find modern easy to follow
I find classic confusing and hardly ever go there.
To me seeing multiple threads started by the some person about the same subject is like walking into the middle of a conversation not knowing what it's about, so I usually skip over them and move on.

greymoud, good luck with your project no matter what view you post it in.
 
i think the classic is too confusing because it doesn't follow up in succession. At least I dont think it does. Maybe I haven't figured it out.
 

WOW! more issues with this old tractor.
The ignition switch froze on my as I started it this afternoon. It is old and corroded. It froze just long enough to shear the drive gear on the starter. I caught it a millisecond too late and I immediately knew what happened. I had to order a new one and an igniting switch. If the switch isn't the correct one I will just wire in a push button switch and be done with it.

The starter looks to be in pretty good shape.

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