I installed a new aftermarket manual heater shut off valve on my 56 Victoria 292 and was surprised to see a leak when I warmed up the car to operating temp. Seemed to be leaking where the brass nut screws into the housing. Does anyone know if there is a packing inside the valve?  The valve assembly is cast metal with a brass nut that was 5/8 with a stem that has a metal handle on top. I did tighten the brass nut a bit and the leakage stopped but the shut off handle is now too tight to looosen or tighten to either open the valve more or shut off the flow. I did tighten the brass nut until it bottomed out. Also, does anyone know if teflon tape will stand up to manifold heat on the pipe threads ?  Thanks   George

Can you post a pic of the shut off valve


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I bought the valve from Concours and it is the manual type valve that you wind open in cold weather and close for warm weather. I have so far fixed one leak where the stem winds into the casing by winding out the valve to where I thought enough hot coolant would pass through to the heater core. I then tightened the brass nut that I think crushes a packing. That leak was solved. I ran the motor until hot with no leaks but about 5 minutes after I shut it down I noticed some coolant seeping up from the pipe thread where the valve screws into the manifold, even after I had smeared some permatex #2 in the threads and folowed by winding some teflon tape over the permatex. Tomorrow, unless I get better suggestions, I think I'll trying  cleaning off the permatex and teflon tape an try using some blue silicon gaslet maker,

I’d try the locktite product before I used silicon. You’ll have to read the specs and make your choice.

https://www.loctiteproducts.co...

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

My experience with this has been tighten the gland nut only enough to stop any leaking. If it becomes too difficult to rotate, I use a rag as a cushion.  After several years if it becomes too difficult to turn to the point of possibly breaking it, then time for a new one.  Living in Michigan the need to open and close it  is only about two times and there is enough flow when opened half way. Also, at least in my case, teflon tape has always worked. Hope this helps....

64F100 57FAIRLANE500

Good advice. I did not know , nor were there any instructions to tighten the gland nut. I made the mistake of tightening it all the way until it bottomed out, then had to back it off a bit to be able to turn the handle. The valve did not leak. However the pipe threads leaked after the motor warmed up and I shut it off. I had only used gasket shellac on the threads. Took it off and cleaned the threads and used permatex#2 and tefllon tape. Same problem. It leaked again at the pipe threads after I shut off the motor. Seems like more pressure builds up behind the thermostat after shutdown.  Being that I have mistakingly crushed the packing all the way, I think I will order another valve and try blue silicon or locktite. 

Your local Parts Store should have One. Probably much cheaper than Concours.

71% of original size (was 708x19) - Click to enlarge  71% of original size (was 708x19) - Click to enlarge