7 replies to this topic

[minilee94]

Was thinking of dry decking my 1380 is it worth it

What sort if head gasket do i need to use
What are the advantages of it

[Artful Dodger]

Not for a road car making under 100 hp!! Just a waste of money! In one of the mini world magazines there is a guide to improving the block water flow. Doing those mods should be absolutely fine.

[Kat7Racing]

Dry decking is really for racing unless you want to do it just for the experience..... The objective is that if you race and you blow a head gasket then your water isnt going to disapear, you might lose some power but you save the water and might finish a race. A blown head gasket with no water is a DNFeven on the last lap, a blown head gasket with a dry deck might get you some points as the chances are you will finish.

The kits that are available seem to be a blanking plate for the waterways between the head and the block, this isnt really a dry deck in my opinion..... to dry deck properly what is needed is to strip the block and head completly then use taper plugs to block the waterways in both. machine the head an block faces then clean everything and reassemble. fit your head gasket of preference, BK450 for me personally. Ohh and you need an adapter for the end core plug and a machined face in the head with another adapter and a silicon hose to go from oneto the other..... For a road car I wouldnt do it again, a race car I might consider it but it is a LOT of work to do correctly

My 1380 drydecked Spi
 drydecked 1380.jpg   86.69K   32 downloads
Dave
Car63

Edited by Kat7Racing, 01 February 2013 - 08:58 AM.

[minilee94]

Okay thanks and i will be making sure mine makes 100bhp lol

And yeah i knew it was for race engines just thought it might be better to fit one to save my engine that im building from blowing up in the future

[freshairmini]

There are some people that believe that it would be better with out for a road car. As if your head gasket blows normally your water gauge will show its overheating and really make you stop before any major damage is done.

With dry decking it will be harder will mean the engine will keep going and potentially do more damage because your still able to drive it.

[minilee94]

Yeah don't think il bother then

[03jkirk]

this tends to be done on high power engines to try and even out the heat across the head as the water has to flow through the entire head rather than the flow decreasing gradually towards the flywheel end as the water passes through the waterways all along the head, this is the reason when an engine is overheated the cylinders closest to the flywheel are most badly affected

[JustSteve]

A bit of misguided information here.

Dry decking is blocking the water ways up between block and head, to allow even flow of water and reduce hot-spots. This is a great idea on ANY engine and doesn't really have any negatives other than hassle and potentially cost (but easy enough for anybody)

There are however two options. You can plug both head and block, or just one of them.

On a road car you only need to block off just one, that way if the gasket blows between a waterway it will give you a few clues. On a race engine that's rebuilt, or atleast inspected often, you don't need these clues... BUT by plugging BOTH head and block, there's a lot more chance of finishing the race!



Plug either head or block Lee.