9 replies to this topic

[AlainC]

Hi Guys,

 

I bought a beaten 1976 Mini 1000 in bright and sunny malta to restore. My Mini is one of the few that where locally built here in Malta. The car has been off the road for 10 years and it doesn't look like its had much maintinance done to it. Any way im restoring it and I have pulled the head off to clean the engine and to do head gasket change. 

 

The water ports on the engine are not the same sizes and to me it looks like the is solidified carbon around the holes but iv never seen a mini head so i don't know weather these are casting problems or carbon build up around the holes. Is this carbon build up and I should remove it or is it part of the casting . Picture attached the black stuff around water holes

 

Thank you for your help and im proud to be a mini owner. I will show my progress in the builds sections later on thanks again.

Attached Files

•  received_101538559565934281.jpeg   48.61K   65 downloads

Edited by AlainC, 21 January 2016 - 12:36 PM.

[nicklouse]

I think you forgot the picture.

[AlainC]

My bad haha editted

[jaydee]

thats just normal, clean it thouroghly with emery cloth

[Spider]

Looks like there was some leakage of the coolant beyond the holes in the gasket but probably didn't develop in to a leak that went anywhere - at this stage, but one there up near the front of the head was getting close!

 

I'd suggest being sure that the head and block decks are dead flat and replacing the cylinder head studs and nuts.

[AlainC]

so they are not supposed to be so narrow i just widen them with sand paper until i hit metal ?

[limby2000]

When I had my engine block rebored and deck skimmed (at a well known) engineering firm , I also had it chemically/steam cleaned. When I got it back I was shocked to see how much rust/crud was still inside the block jacket. I had removed all core plugs prior to cleaning. Spent a couple of hours with a long thin screwdriver removing a big cup full of orange crud. My car had 46,000 on it in regular use. I,m sure yours will be just as bad .

[Dusky]

My 150k km 998 had one of the waterways fully blocked

[tiger99]

Also seen that at high mileage. Just clean them out to the original diameter, i.e. remove all rust and crud from the holes, and the surfaces, but don't try to drill them out larger. You can carefully use a rotary tool like a Dremel, but don't intentionally remove more than the slightest hint of metal.

 

The water ports on head and block are not always the same size as each other, and typically smaller than the holes in the gasket, and the reason is to control the flow of coolant so it spreads around the whole head, not just taking the easiest route. A given block may be used with various different heads, and the manufacturer will have proportioned the ports in the head to work correctly.

[AlainC]

Thank you very much for the help guys appreciated. I have used a dremel to clean the hole and stopped a soon as i felt metal. I checked the gasket holes just i case I made a mistake and opened them to far but they seam fine. 

 

The engine is full of crud i have left it to soak in mild caustic soda for a day, I cleaned the exhaust and intake ports but the rust in the water jackets remained, will try steam cleaning next