broken water neck? no

T

tb33anda3rd

Junior Member
did a search and did not see this "trick" posted. i have seen and broken my share of ears broken off when torquing and had resorted to hand tightening by "feel". i ordered a new water neck from Brattons to install a temp gage. the instruction had this little trick and i thought i would share. i did not have any paper matches but used the card board backer from a note pad. it did not break. has any one seen or done this? has any one broken one using this trick? if you do use this and an ear cracks can you post back and tell your story?
 

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I have heard of the match stick "trick for forty years. Never used them in installing a water neck. Could not figure out the logic of the two matches. Could someone explain how it works.

I use a flat file and work the head surface and the water neck contact surface until it is a 100% contack aroubd both bolt holes. A little Prussian Blue will get it perfect. Then with thin layer of RTV torque bolts 5 lbs at the time until they are 55 lbs. Mime don't leak. ken
 
I never broke one till I filed it flat ---that happened late at night without a replacement---I brazed the ear back on, still good, the ears are bent down on most of the used ones, this serves the same as using a match to take up space, once the ears are bent some there is no more flexability on the cast iron to move more is the lesson I learned, and if left bent most likely the ears won't break on reuse
 
When using a copper gasket, or silicone and no gasket, I have never broken one.
I broke a couple when paper or cardboard gaskets were used.

The match on the outside edge won't let the ear push down and break off.....at least we hope.
Best advice is to never use a gasket unless it's the copper one.
 
I agree, either copper or silicone. Did break one with the paper gasket even when creeping up on the torque. No more paper...
 
It's an old trick mentioned here on the site before. I have seen them broken and even broke one my self. I have used the thin paper gasket and the copper one with good luck.
 
I prefer no gasket, and clean, straight surfaces with some red high temp RTV. My reasoning is that to have two gaskets that are compressable at the front of the head might lead to less torque on the head gasket at that area. Eliminating the water outlet gasket reduces the compressable area to just the head gasket. Ford fixed this problem in 32 with a revised pump and all the studs the same length.
NEVER a good idea to use the cheap modern paper gasket on the water outlet.
 
A friend was working on his Model A in my shop.
Torqueing head bolts.
Thick paper outlet housing gasket-matchsticks on each end.
I asked him what he was doing and he got a little brusque; said this is how I do it.
He finished up the torque sequence and all went well. Went home.
Came in the next morning and guess what? The outlet was in two pieces.
He removed the outlet and studs with a fair amount of grumbling, put a nice flat surface on the head and outlet; used a very small amount of gasket sealer and that was three years and a few thousand miles ago.
Most of the water outlets look very strong and rugged as they are big and contain lots of iron; CAST IRON which is not malleable. They like nice even torque applied in 5lb increments; as stated in a previous post.
One other thing, this has "never" happened to me.
 
Their is nothing like the sound of the ears breaking off unless it's the sound of a head stud snapping off. RTV for me and no gasket does the trick.
 
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