The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop overheating damage found - what to do now?

I've had some questions recently, after my overheating problem. I got everything pretty much figured out, remains the question what to do about the repair. the situation:
got zero comepression in my #5 cylinder. oil in the cylinder doesn't help, so I say valve is stuck. (exhaust valve?). of course I'll check for bent push rod tomorrow (it's 2:30 now), but I'm wondering what to do about the valve. am I totally crazy when I think that I could try to spray carb cleaner on the valve (using a bent spray nozzle through the spark plug hole)?. I don't know what would be wrong with the valve. does a burnt valve mean there's so much carbon deposit that it won't close? or something else?
besides this, surely related, I see exhaust fumes escaping somewhere when I run the engine. somewhere means: somewhere from the header, but I can't see exactly where, although it seems to come from the back area (where #5 cylinder is). gasket fried?
the engine actually runs really fine. which is the better considering I'm running on 5 cylinders, I didn't adjust spark plug gap yet (simply forgot) and haven't adjusted the carb (just kitted it).
I sooooo hope I won't have to pull the head. speaking of which: I have a few head gaskets with a little corrosion. If I smoothe that out (scuffpad) should I go ahead and use it, or should I buy a new head gasket?
sorry about that long list of questions, but this is all first-time work for me and I'm on my own working on it. I'll donate the next NOS Stovebolt part I find to the website, as an compensation for all the questions I keep asking!

it may be possible that the headgasket is bad,no compression on #5,and leaking out by the header?about the headgasket's you have,are they new? if so it may be possible to clean em up a bit but I'd never use a used gasket.for the price and effort to put a known good one in is well worth it.My 2 cent's Tom

seetz,

The only way to properly deal with this situation is to pull the head. This will reveal any and all gasket and valve problems. For the labor involved, I would install a NEW head gasket and be done with it.

Your chore will probably involve having the head checked for 'flat' along with the intake/exhaust manifolds. Seeing absolute zero on a cylinder is rare in my book. If the valve were stuck open, it would be obvious from the top side. Overheating wouldn't instantly burn or warp a valve and even then your compression reading should be something other than zero. If it involved the intake valve you would see problems coming back through the carburetor.

A blown head gasket to water jacket would show up in the coolant and maybe in a wet cylinder. A blow between two cylinders would result in bad compression readings on at least those two cylinders. Maybe the stuff coming out near the header is actually a blown head gasket that blew to the outside near this spot.

The bottom line is...IMO, that a zero reading will have obvious associated symptoms with it that will be a clue as to what has happened.

Stuart

If you want to really find out where your compression is going to make yourself an adapter to inject compressed air into the cylinder, I made mine by dismantling a sparkplug, take ceramic out and grind smooth just above the hex head, knock out everything in the center, grind the little tip off the end. Weld or braze a female pipe adapter on to the hex head and screw a quick disconnect into it. This will allow you you to connect it easily to your air system. Get your #5 cylinder to the top dead center and lock it in place, in your case you could probably just put it in low gear. Turn the air on with about 30 psi and listen for air leakage, if it's the exhaust valve it will come out the tail pipe, if it's an intake valve it wil be heard in th carb, if it's rings it will blow into the crankcase and you'll hear it at the vent, if it's head gasket it may blow out the side, I'm not sure exactly on that one. On aircraft we use 80 psi, so if you don't hear it up the air pressure. Hope that helps, at least you will know exactly where and what your problem is with out pulling the head. Dave

Just pull the valve cover and check for loose rocker arms on #5. I had a valve stick from to tight of a guide, yours might have been heated enough to swell up and stick. Spray some lube on the stem and see if you can free it up. You sure can't hurt it any more then it is so I say give it a try.

Give those New Old stock gaskets a scrubbing and spray with copper coat before installing, they should work just fine. After all, these are not high winding race motors!

Joe

Checking to see if the valve lash on the two valves of #5 is excessive is the best thing to do first. If that is the case you do indeed have a stuck valve.

I found something to live up to my promise. listed two 55-59 shackle kits under "parts for sale". $$ goes to the website. thanks y'all for answering all my questions, it's so good to have friendly neighbours all over the country!

seetz: just as a reminder. IF you find a problem with a valve that can be fixed from the top as JoeH mentions just be aware that you do NOT have to pull the head to replace say a valve spring. It can be done a couple ways. If you ever do need the little tool to compress a valve spring to put one on or off just let me know. I have one in my tool box and shipping to you should only be a couple dollars from my house!!
Good luck and keep us posted.