On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 14:04:47 -0600, "Karl Townsend"
wrote:

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?

Karl



Well, everybody else has had their say, but my experience with the
red, black, and blue "high -temperature" RTV goo was that they WILL
NOT withstand the temps at the manifold - at least not on my old
Panhead.

I was cutting pieces of brass shim stock to eliminate the leaks on the
old "clamp the pipe around the header boss" system (lots of popping
when I let off the throttle), and sealing the rest with RTV. The above
compounds all got brittle and blew out in a few days.

What I did find that worked was a Copper-colored high-temp RTV (from
Permatex, IIRC) that held fine for several years. Whereas most RTV
smells of acetic acid, this stuff had an odor similar to latex paint.

Best bet is , as others said, to create good mating surfaces, but I
didn't have that option, and you might not, either.

Joe