Flat washers? Wha's up

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At one time during my '26 T's life someone put flat washers under the heads of every headbolt. Was this a common practice. Did they do it for some reason having to do with stretched bolts. I plan on pulling the head and cleaning out the carbon and grinding the valves. I also plan on putting in new headbolts and won't put the washers back under the heads of the bolts, however I'd really be interested in why they're in there in the first place.

[Lar]

Could have been seeping around head bolts or just bad idea.

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Originally Posted by Lar

Could have been seeping around head bolts or just bad idea.

Thanks Lars, you could be right. However when I had the head off my '21 model t I didn't notice any of the bolt holes going through the water jacket. That's not to say I looked in every hole and I have had issues in the past with seeping on a '46 flathead. I've talked to previous owners and according to them the washers were in there before 1959.

[rond]

1. Aluminum head? It is standard practice to use hardened washers to keep the bolts from digging into the head.
2. Bolts too long? It is amazing what you will find that some people have done for low dollar repairs.

[CharlieB]

It's probably been posted before but I'll do it again: (I believe it was on a set of instructions that came with a new T head gasket), Dig around with a pick or an awl in each bolt hole and blow out the debris with air pressure. I don't know how the junk gets in there in the first place but it's amazing what will come out. If you're not replacing the washers your holes might be loaded with stuff. It can cause the bolts to bottom out and pull the threads.

[vwbrian]

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There were washers on my 27. It turned out that the head was machined too many times, or too much at one time! I put on a different head and presto, all is well.
Brian

[redmodelt]

When you put your new bolts in, run them all down snug without the head gasket. Check that they all seat properly on the head. If they don't check again for junk in the hole.

[John Otis]

I agree with everyone. I have seeen washers under the headbolts on two different occasions. Whenever I had an engine out of a car for freshening I turned it upside down on the engine stand and blew out and picked out the headbolt holes. Incredible how much stuff can be in there.

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Great advice. Especially seeing as how I'll be cleaning the carbon out of the motor pretty soon. I'll probably put bolts into the holes before I clean but will definitely be picking and vacumming as I clean.

[Willie in Houston]

Like Rond said above, if the head is a new aluminum head, it probably came with steel washers to be placed under the head bolts.
If not aluminum, someone may have milled a lot off the head and the bolts would bottom out. Some of the above post told you how to check for this problem.

[John Otis]

And while you have the head off take the time to clean out those little tiny water passage holes in the block and head.

[Byron Warwick]

When I rebuilt my flathead engine the bolt set I bought from Motor City Flathead had a set of hardened washers. These are to reduce the drag of the bolts on the head and make for more even torque pressure. Some people dont like to look of them, Byron .

[van Dyck]

Ditto, Bryon!