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Hello, first off let me say a pre thank you to anyone who takes an interest or provides me with any kind of insight. I have for years been cruising automotive forums whenever my vehicles have started acting up. i have found a wealth of information and helpfulness to pretty much diagnose, if not fix almost every problem. So far, so good...sort of. Anyway i have never signed up for any forum before and was content to just scout as a guest. Well. Last November I fulfilled a boyhood fantasy and bought a vintage pick up. I have since, been learning( almost daily it seems) about the joys of owning such a piece of history. I thought it was time to sign up, while looking through this forum the first picture i happen across was a 49 Fargo 1/2 ton...just like mine. i have since speculated mine to be a 50/51 as looking at pictures mine has the later grill, although the registration is 49. though the engine does have a tag that say " remanufactured by the chrysler method" and is dated 1956. Ok, so i have had a pretty lovely intoduction to vintage vehicles thus far. 3 weeks after purchase my head gasket went( the first time). Sad fargo sat for a month while i discovered how much fun it was to find parts for a 25 inch canadian made chrysler 251 flathead 6. Thank you vintagepowerwagons.com. After pulling the head off and discovering the cooling systems was for lack of a better word, Hooped. i set about gathering a new water pump, hoses, gasket set, APR head studs, rotor, cap, plugs, coil, leads,oil, etc. I had the rad flushed, had the head planed and magnafluxed, cleaned the water distribution tube, wire wheeled the top of the block and pistons. blew out all the water out of the intake. got all the crud out ( at least i thought). cleaned up the carb as best i could( so not a carb guy), rebuilt the distributor( ok my dad did) So, old motor, no idea how long it had been like that. Head gasket replacement, to be expected right. ya. ive heard these flatties will blow a gasket from time to time. no worries, i installed studs so a head replacement is no biggie... ok im getting to the point. so my head gasket has gone twice now, and im suspecting its going again. just before the second time, it started making this weird flapping noise, which kinda matches the rpms and then it just gets kinda slower. at first there is no loss of power, then it definitely does. I shut it off before anything came gushing out the tail pipe, as i don't want the rods to hydraulic. First, does anyone know what this noise is? and is there something i can do to help eliminate the possibility of blowing another gasket. Could it be the timing. As it is hard to set by gun, I've been told to "listen" for it. Second, as its like 3 head gaskets in like realistically 3 months, am i fighting a losing battle here. granted there are lots of determining factors , but I've combed through a lot of reading and have tried a lot of things to get it fixed. Don't get me wrong, it runs great when it runs.