Rods in my Head, Part 2

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cruiser

cruiser

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Just started the rebuild job on my 1974 Duster slant six and found this. If you recall, several years ago I asked if anyone had ever seen these funny looking rods in their engine castings. Apparently, they are part of the sand casting process and are not a part of the engine itself. Mother Mopar apparently decided that it was too much work to extract them after the part (cylinder head, block, etc.) was cast, so they just left them in there to live in your motor forever. Anyhow, my manifold came off yesterday and there it was - that pesky metal rod that I decided to extract through the thermostat hole. Here's a photo of what I pulled out. As far as I know, there was only one of these in the head. Took some pulling, but it was remarkably un-rusted after extraction. It looked like a piece of green-ish colored heavy coat hanger material. So am I the only one out there who cares about this stuff? It just bothers me to no end knowing that something that doesn't belong there is floating around in my cylinder head. Thoughts, anyone?

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They used them in the casting process, they usually melt out but it is pretty common to find them
 
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Save it, they're only original once and they're not making them anymore. :poke:
 
They are to hold the cores together. The cores for the coolant passages are the void in the finished casting and are made of sand.
 
Post 4 and 6 both sum it up nicely. Nothing abnormal at all.
 
Interesting one here about the Slant 6 block casting. They mention the wires.
Sand Cores

The RGFC blocks were cast 2 at a time, in a single sand mold made up of a cavity "rammed-up" into a box of "green sand", with several sand cores added, which create the hollow sections of the casting. The blocks were cast camshaft side down, crankcase to crankcase. Each mold cavity was loaded with over 20 "cores" made of baked oil sand. The major cores formed the crankcase, the cylinder deck-bores-valve tappet chamber, the water jacket, and the front and rear of the block. The main bearing webs and the crankcase pockets were made for both blocks by 3 large cores assembled together. The core that forms the front bay of one block forms the rear bay of the other, in other words, each end core formed the water pump scroll and the timing chain cavity on one block and the rear bell housing flange on the other. The water jacket cores were assembled to the crankcase and barrel slab cores using core wires. After the small cores for the fuel and oil pump pads are placed, the crankcase / water jacket / barrel slab core assembly was lowered into the outer sand mold and then the end cores were added to hold everything in place.

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Here's a link to the article. Playing With Blocks
 
cruiser said:
So am I the only one out there who cares about this stuff? It just bothers me to no end knowing that something that doesn't belong there is floating around in my cylinder head. Thoughts, anyone?
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you are not alone...

In my finished basement there is a wall that is 2x thicker than all the rest. I wanted to hang a TV on the wall and make a chase to the floor for the cables. As I was cutting the hole with a keyhole saw I kept hearing a bang with ever saw pull. So I finished the cut with only the very tip of the saw no more banging. Once the hole was open there it was... all the drywall scrap from the finishing of the basement. 3 foot wide pcs, 6 foot long pieces! arrrg! AND they are in an interior wall so no insulating benefit!

It bugs me to this day. If the walls were not textured I would rip the wall open and extract all that crap!


Also I have a piece of cable coax that goes to nowhere in the basement as well! It goes up into the ceiling from the machine / electrical room and runs NE! Double ARRRG!!
 
Here's a photo of the other piece of casting rod pulled from my cylinder head. So there were two pieces drifting around in there since November 29, 1973 the day the head was cast. There was none in the engine block casting. So for those of you who might be looking for this stuff in your head, be sure to fish out two pieces, not just one. I can sleep now, knowing that my head rods are gone, and also because Rusty Rat Rod can't make any more banana jokes!

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Think of the hundreds of thousands of heads and engines that had casting wires in them for the last 50+ years. There are possibly a lot still floating around undescovered.
 
toolmanmike said:
Think of the hundreds of thousands of heads and engines that had casting wires in them for the last 50+ years. There are possibly a lot still floating around undescovered.
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Yeah, likely every slant six head out there. I've never seen a 225 cylinder head without them still inside.
 
cruiser said:
Yeah, likely every slant six head out there. I've never seen a 225 cylinder head without them still inside.
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...and here I thought you were one for such originality that you'd be looking for rods to stick IN the head and block. Heck, since you're removing the rods, you're making a modification from stock. You might as well, put a cam, four barrel and headers on it now.
 
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