On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 14:04:47 -0600, the infamous "Karl Townsend"
scrawled the following:

My 8N ford tractor has a loud clatter...

I found the cause, the exhaust gasket has blown out in a small spot. The
metal in the block is slightly burned away. ( a couple years ago, I put a
new manifold on so its in good shape here) Its a flat head engine so the
ports are in the block not on the heads. And to make matters even worse the
block on a tractor is the frame support also. No way can I take the thing
apart enough to re-machine this surface.

So, do they make some sort of gasket goo to add to the manifold gaskets that
will correct this problem?

I retired from wrenching in '85 but up until then, I'd never heard of
anything which would withstand those high temps. Is it possible to
run a weld bead, then grind it flat, to fill in the gap enough that
the standard manifold gasket can seal it?

I take that first sentence back. I think there was some silvery goop
called muffler sealer way back when. I vaguely remember gooping it on
a blown exhaust pipe, wrapping it with the asbestos (real!) gauze, and
putting the tin cover around that with a hose clamp. That was on my
first car, a '57 Chebby BelAir ca. 1969, and probably my first of many
purchases from the J.C. Whitney catalog. (ancient memories!)

I wouldn't want to goop it and try to take that manifold off again,
though. Hmm, if you use that stuff, wipe some copper anti-seize on the
manifold at that point. Then pray that it works like a mold release
agent in case you ever have to go back in there.

--
"Not always right, but never uncertain." --Heinlein
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