7 replies to this topic

[sazal]

Model: Advantage
Year: 1987
Description of problem (please be as in depth as possible):

Hi, as some of you may know, ive been having trouble with my head gasket not sealing after having the engine rebuilt. Me and the fella took the head off and had that and the block checked over. The head was perfect, the block is banana shaped We really dont want to have to take the engine out and I dont want the things I bought for the rebuilt to be wasted.

So my mate is going to try and grind it flat (not sure what the proper term it was he used! ) but has told me to try and get hold of an asbestos head gasket (or equilivent since you cant get asbestos anymore), so does anyone have any idea what one of these is and where to get one from?! Ive had a look on Minispares and Minisport, but cant find anything

Thanks,
Sarah

[Dan]

Pease don't let him, it really can't be done by hand and it'll wreck the engine. It is essential that this is done on a mill, the block deck doesn't just need to be flat it also has to be very square to the crank. Pulling your engine out isn't hard. As for the gasket I suspect he just means that you should try to fit a thicker, more compliant gasket that will fill the void between the head and block. Personally I don't know where you'd get one and I don't think it will work that well really, not with any kind of decent compression ratio. If the gasket isn't evenly clamped all round it will fail.

[MRA]

I guess what your mate is going to do is hand scrape the block ?? or worse !!! what ever he is planning on doing will result in total eventual wastage of your hard earned cash.......

Grinding material WILL get in to your engine it WILL destroy it, no matter how careful he is some element of swarf or cutting compound etc WILL enter the WRONG places

ferrous metals around your piston rings will glow red and pre-ignite and could lead to severe piston damage

DO NOT LET HIM TOUCH YOUR ENGINE

To strip your engine down for skimming will cost you time, a set of gaskets, descent head gasket (BK450), oil, filter, thread lock and any bits that are damaged.

Ok if this is a new engine why is the block not flat ?
how are you checking that the block is flat ?
What tools are you using to "diagnose" a warped block ?
warped "A" series blocks are not that common !

If it is warped then it will have to be done on a machine, either a mill, or for preference a vertical spindle surface grinder

Ask him what he intends to do .... exactly ??

[sazal]

Hi, the guy who was going to do it used to build race A-series engines. I had the engine built by them, but they didnt check the block. He too said that A-series blocks never warp and he has never seen one like it in all the years hes worked with them.

The engine is now out of the car and is being taken to be skimmed on Tuesday. Just hope the engines all back together and back in the car and running for L2B

[DaveRob]

the guy who was going to do it used to build race A-series engines............I had the engine built by them, but they didnt check the block.

Bet they didnt win much if they didnt check the simple stuff

If you are going to get it skimmed then my advice is to make sure you get it flycut..... and do both the head and the block while you are at it. Some people surface grind the block and head...... in my experience this can lead to premature gasket fails as, although the finish looks super smooth and shiney, the gasket has nothing to grip.... A slow feed on the final dress cut tends to give a slightly mat finish and this is what holds the gasket and prevents blow by and movement

Just my thoughts

Rob

[sazal]

He hadnt checked it, but we thought he had, but he then got really ill so couldnt carry on doing it and there was bit of mixed communications with it all. Pretty much the long story short!

Edited by sazal, 03 May 2009 - 11:56 AM.

[MRA]

Hi, the guy who was going to do it used to build race A-series engines. I had the engine built by them, but they didnt check the block. He too said that A-series blocks never warp and he has never seen one like it in all the years hes worked with them.

The engine is now out of the car and is being taken to be skimmed on Tuesday. Just hope the engines all back together and back in the car and running for L2B

Probably why they USED to build engines.... that's a short cut too far

[sazal]

He hadnt checked it, but we thought he had, but he then got really ill so couldnt carry on doing it and there was bit of mixed communications with it all. Pretty much the long story short!

This thread can be closed and deleted now, since its sorted now

Edited by sazal, 03 May 2009 - 12:10 PM.