Heat Shield Removal

Dirtrack49

Dirtrack49

Senior Member
My 30 Town Sedan came with a heat shield installed.
Yesterday, I noticed that my distributor housing was moving while activating my spark advance lever.
Since the distributor set screw and lock nut are covered by the heat shield, I thought I would remove the shield permanently. I don't believe the heat shield is needed to begin with.
My question is, since I will need to back off the two head bolts #3 and #6 to remove the shield, should I be concerned about disturbing the head and gasket? Also, after removing the shield, hopefully I will be able to remove the distributor to retorque the head. What is the best procedure for retorquing the head after disturbing the two head nuts?
Thanks for any and all input.

Tom L.
 
won't hurt the head gasket, just remove and then retorque them. If you are going to do the whole head just follow the correct pattern. If you are concerned, drain some water out, remove the shield, retorque and then fill her back up. I have removed the nut on the stud that has the cable hold down clamp before and no ill effects.

Mike
 
When I torque my 5.5 I loosen a 1/4 turn one at a time and torque to the correct amount following the sequence. If it was me I would drain a gallon out and pour it back when finished.
 
When you tighten the set screw, be sure the housing is seated flatly against the head and not cocked. I have seen that happen before and it causes a knock. Tighten the screw down and then the nut to jam it of course.

Heat shield is not needed these days with the good condensers from A&L that hsve modern technology. Heat doesn't affect these new ones like the old ones 30 or 40 years ago.
 
Thanks for the information everyone.
Paul, I am more concerned with getting the distributor seated properly than removing it. However, I can't seem to find a 11/16th crows foot in my tools. I am unable to get a socket on the nut next to the distributor. Thought that if I just removed it, I can get to nut #1 with a socket and torque wrench.
 
Dirtrack49 said:
Thanks for the information everyone.
Paul, I am more concerned with getting the distributor seated properly than removing it. However, I can't seem to find a 11/16th crows foot in my tools. I am unable to get a socket on the nut next to the distributor. Thought that if I just removed it, I can get to nut #1 with a socket and torque wrench.
Click to expand...

You need one of these wrenches. They show up on eBay quite frequently.
 

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You can get the wrench from any of the Model A shops. Bert's, Bratton's, Snyder's and others...since we are supose to check head torque once a year, you will get lots of use out of it...Ernie in Arizona
 
I have the wrench and a torque wrench that works easy Peezy, but Ford didn't use torque wrenches soooooo you could use a box end wrench and your calibrated elbow.
 
don't drain the water.
use your 11/16 box end back off the two nuts. the shield is slotted, pull out the shield, put the nuts back on, use your 11/16 box end tighten them back up. a few lbs difference in torque is not going to make a difference.
nothing is going to happen to the head gasket. you cant even pry the heads off with a crow bar when ALL the Nuts are off.
i bet most of those heads when bolted down in the back yard never new what a torque wrench was.
ou
tom
 
Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.
When I was a kid, I always had a tendency to over torque anything and everything. Started using a torque wrench, the old handle version sometime in my early twenties. Found that the more experience that I gained over the next 50 years, that I pretty much had a close guess at what torque I was applying without the aid of a modern torque wrench.
So...I am going to pick up one of those obstruction wrenches when I get a chance. In the mean time, out comes the box wrench.
I guess I was starting to fall into the realm of over analyzing something that is pretty straight forward.
Thanks for bringing me back to reality.

Tom L.
 
Use the handy dandy "Ford" combination spark plug and cylinder head wrench.
 

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Tom,
I did the very same thing you are asking about. I removed the heat shield, removed the distributor, and the manifolds. (Leaking manifold gasket but figured I would remove the heat shield at the same time) I didn't immediately retorque the head nuts, and the next morning found a small amount, maybe a 1/8 of a teaspoon of coolant in the number 2 exhaust port. Thank goodness re torqueing the head sealed it back up.
Hope that helps
 
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