Blown head gasket or head?

[Nemo von Klepper]

WD40, that sounds right.

Right now I’m weighing my options. This was a pretty big setback and I’m trying not to let it get me down.
It seems to me the rebuilt head in the KW catalog is a “plug and play”.
There are also NOS heads available that I could rebuild myself.
Obviously if the head checks out, I’ll just put new gaskets on.

Making lemonade out of lemons I’m thinking of making this one as bulletproof as possible. I’ve read someplace that valves or valve seats suffer from the higher combustion temperatures of modern gasoline. I imagine there are remedies one can build into a head, harder valves or seats.

[LarrBeard]

WD40, that sounds right.

I imagine there are remedies one can build into a head, harder valves or seats.

Pulling the head on the F-134 is a bit more of a job than an L-134. Don't forget that short head bolt that hides under the throat of the carburetor.
The guy who rebuilt the F-134 for the '48 forgot to put that one back in - and it caused an unbelievable month long headache before we found it!

Exhaust valves are the ones that take the real beating. Keep in mind that when the air-fuel mixture burns in the compressed combustion chamber, the intake valves are closed and the rim of the valve is seated up against the head - giving a good heat sink for the lip of the valve.

But, after the air-fuel mixture has burned, the exhaust valve opens and the very hot exhaust gases flow out past the open valve. The top of the valve is washed in the hot exhaust gases and that makes the exhaust valve much hotter than the intake. Once hot gases erode a bit of the lip of the valve, hot combustion gases erode the cast iron of the seat area in the block unless hardened valve seats have been installed. Normally, hardened seats are installed during overhauls to keep erosion down.

Tetraethyl lead, in addition to enhancing octane rating of gasoline, actually put a thin coat of a lead oxide on the surface of the valves which protected them from exhaust erosion. No lead, no coating, we get erosion. The good news is that our engines are low compression engines and they don't burn up "instantly" like the high compression V-8's did.

Here's hoping for a bad head gasket!