Sorry to be so long in sending these photos but there have been
“complications” with the old Citroen that have distracted me. I had
planned to send these photos at the end of the week, when I would have the car
back on the road * but * things didn’t quite work out that way.
On the Thursday after we put in the engine, I filled the radiator with
coolant but was surprised that I didn’t seen to have enough * on Friday
got more coolant * and topped it off and checked the oil level before firing
it up * but the oil level was “all the way up” to the top * which told me
that my extra coolant had obviously gone into the oil pan. Fortunately I had
not cranked the engine yet.
To make a long story short, I enlisted Myron, my neighbor, who I find
has enormous engine experiences from his early working years, to help with
the diagnosis. After draining the crankcase, I could see that any coolant
put in went quickly to the crankcase * pulled the head and could see that
the coolant leaked down to a level about 1” over the sleeve bottom seals, so
it wasn’t the bottom seals * to go any further and see where the leak was
coming from meant pulling the engine again since the oil plan won’t come
off with the engine installed. So I reinstalled the head (need the water
pump attached to the head to lift the engine). Then in order to put the
engine back on the engine stand had to pull trans/differential and
clutch/flywheel * So finally after engine on the stand and oil pan
pulled, we poured in more coolant and Myron with his high powered flashlight
could see the coolant pouring out of a casting defect (a blowhole) near the
bottom of the block. The blowhole was about ½” long, 1/8” wide and, except
where it broke through, about 1/8” deep.

Myron had many such experiences in his past and told me we could easily
fix it with JB Weld * we just needed access to the hole on both sides * We
were able to get this access, fortunately by loosening the bolts on one rod
and pulling that piston/rod/sleeve assembly out, leaving the paper gasket
still attached to the sleeve. We then could see that after 62 years of holding
coolant, the blowhole broke through in a little area about 0.050” in
diameter * I probably helped this when I so thoroughly cleaned out the
many years of sludge and corrosion * So after appropriate cleaning up of the
area we filled it with JB Weld from both sided making a nice glass reinforced
broad patch on the coolant side. Should be good forever.
So I then reassembled all of the engine and this time with just Myron’s
help
put it back in again (experience makes it easier each time). The sleeve
and piston/rod assembly went back in place and still gave the correct
height over the block (0.002-0.004”).
So a few days later I fired up the engine and it purred * I drove it
around the subdivision several times as check out and all seemed good except
the carburetor was doing it’s fairly common habit of percolating out gas
after the engine is stopped. I then got another neighbor to help install the
hood the next day so it would be ready to really drive * but then when I
tried to start it to show me helpful neighbor, it wouldn’t start * surprising
since t usually starts easily.
After trying everything I know, I called upon Myron to see what his
engine experience would tell us * we then spent the next 3 days checking,
trying everything but no more than an occasional puff. Myron then asked if it
was possible that I could have adjusted the valves too tight, I said I
didn’t think so but what the hell let’s pull the valve cover and confirm them *
Wewere both very shocked to see that all 4 of the intake valve pushrods
were very, very bent and disengaged from the rocker arms. Further
investigation found that the valves were securely frozen in the guides * as my head
had been completely rebuilt by a local shop, new valves, new guides,
hardened seats, etc * I took the head back to them * they first thought sugar in
the gas tank (unlikely since it is garaged) and then asked about the age of
the gasoline * which I realized was probably 3 years old but with gas
stabilizer and some fresh gallons added before starting * what we found was that
varnish from the old gasoline had securely glued the valves into the
guides including gluing the oil control rings to the valve shaft so that they
were cut but trying to be pulled into the guides * The shop owner said he had

only seen this one in his past from old gas (other than the sugar in
tank which causes the same thing). Hammer taps wouldn’t move the valves but a
quick hit by the steam in their cleaning tank and all was back to normal
with no damage to the valves or guides.
Needless to say the shop guy recommended a complete draining and
cleaning of the gas tank by a shop * this I did (looking inside I could see the
inside of the tank was very rusty in the upper half and yellow crud over rust
in the lower half) - they cleaned it as well as they could and then coated
the inside with a material called “red coat” which provides corrosion
protection and seals in any “corruption” which wouldn’t clean out. This also
offered a great opportunity to clean out 62 years of dirt collected on the body
area over the gas tank, a very, very dirty job, but I did it and I used the
opportunity to clean off the partly rusty, very dirty exterior of the
tank and coat it with “cold galvanize”.

New headgasket, new pushrods, and various other gaskets, etc ordered
from
Europe a couple of weeks ago * so I am currently just waiting for the
parts
so I can put the head back on, reinstall the gas tank and all of the
accessories, and then all should be good * I think they may have put
them in
the wrong priority level for shipment but not much I can do about that
now.
Give me 3 * 4 days after parts arrival and we should be good to go this
time. Fingers crossed.
Two very important lessons here *
1. If you clean your old block, find some way to check, inspect for
leaks and defects before reinstalling. Then after assembling, check for
coolant leaks before putting the engine back in the car.

2. If your gasoline is old, drain it all and start with new * the
problems can be very serious.


So now you know what my summer has been like
Thanks again for your help with the engine installation * I’ll let you know
when it is running again
George Waterman

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