Thread: MLS Torque/Angle Settings

torque angle method...

the torquing is less for the head gasket and more for the correct fastening and holding of the pressures and lots of metalurigaclly whiteman magic

fair warning, if your using the plain metal laminated gasket if the guys at the LHC arent calling you to use your deck and head to measure wave form deviation on the main gun its not flat enough.

you can reuse the head bolts the book says 5 times I say 3 as this leaves you with 2 up your sleeve in an emegancy, if you dont know how many times they've been used, get new ones and mark them.

IF your using any part from the company you're think of all I can tell you is you pay your money you take your chances but I warn people who want me to fit those parts that I'm not going to do any warranty work in relation to that parts function.

you dont want a high polish finish you want a nice dull flat matt finish like you'd just spent the best part of a lot of hours doing little tiny circles with a soft scouring pad or a tooth brush and water.

So do you know if the torque/angle procedure is the same for MLS as for composite?

300 tdi head gasket

There was another thread i read today on here regarding the britpart stuff and to stay away from it.

Found it. It's from another forum so I'll pm it to you. Not sure if i can here.

Cheers. From reading it seems their OEM gear is fine, but stay away from non OEM. The head I purchased is OEM and I now have it so have to run with it, the gasket however is a different story. I have a feeling though the failing of the gasket may, assuming other MLS specific factors met be due to incorrect head bolt torque down procedure as stupidly the manufacturer of the gasket doesn't supply specs. Paddock Spares stated they will try to get the information from the supplier.....no doubt in Chinese.

Interestingly the MLS gasket has OEM written on the package label. Is this a lie or are OEM manufactured products poor?

Images of the MLS gasket from britparts. At first I thought the oil feed was blocked, but it looks like the design gives about the same 2mm hole as elring. I'm not happy with the surface scratches in the black coating. I wont be using this - too risky.

That gasket does look a bit rough, I purchased a Victor Rienze brand MLS head gasket, OEM supplier to most European high performance cars also Trucks and F1 engines.
AMC head had genuine Land Rover part MLS gasket with a note saying that this gasket was the LR upgrade (from Composite) head gasket and that warranty on head would be void if this gasket was not used.
The Black/grey coating is the sealant and if it's damaged may result in failure.
I was watching a video on the net about a F1 engine rebuild, the mechanics had clean soft gloves on while they were installing the VR MLS head gaskets, as I can see in your pic what looks like a greasy fingerprint on your gasket, might be an idea to keep the gasket in it's packing till ready to use, good luck, Regards Frank.

Thanks. I'm choosing not to use it at this stage. The other side is the worse scratched side, I'll photograph it and sent a complaint email, it should not have arrived scratched. Silly buggas only had cardboard on one side of the gasket in packaging, not both. I have read about removing the rivets and copper sealing all surfaces which is something I might try at a later date on a different engine as an experiment. Seems MLS is the way to go to reduce the chances of gasket failure, but it has to be done correctly and there are a hell of a lot of differing opinions on how.

Ive just tested my thermostat, it has no small valve in it, states 82C, but doesn't start to open until about 88C and is fully open about 92C.

The one I received from britparts has a small valve, no temperature designation and starts to open at about 92C and fully open 95C.

I think I'll stick with the original and keep the other as a spare.