Thread: New Head Gaskets

Originally Posted by bee utey

Never. The holes in the head don't have enough clearance to do that. The dowels in the block should be entirely adequate to hold the head gasket while you place the head into position. Once it's there, hand tighten a couple of the long studs to stop the head sliding off the dowels.

Exactly correct , the only way you can fit a Head by lowering it onto pre fitted studs is if the motor is out of the vehicle.

Thanks Mario. I am excited about getting it all sorted. Motor looks in good Nick internally. Cheers

Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

Exactly correct , the only way you can fit a Head by lowering it onto pre fitted studs is if the motor is out of the vehicle.

Or if your engine is in a 101

Ok other head off. Gasket good on that. Have taken the opportunity to clean up wiring and outing conduit on all looms. Fluffy black on pistons just wipes off to reveal very shiny crowns. I will ring some locals but I can buy a set on eBay for $350 or so...anyone know of better prices locally in or around Brisbane?

Can I get recommendations for manifold bolts and whether I should reuse them or get new ones (I snapped one getting them out) - would GM head stud goo do given that the bolts go into the head?

Also what thread sealer would be best for the injection manifold coolant temp sensor?

Cheers

Ok ARP head stud kit is ordered. I am checking out some Cometic MLS gaskets tomorrow - so suit 10 stud head with 94mm bore and will check it out against the original Rover gasket that came off intact to see whether it will cover the fire ring nicely. I wont buy them yet until the heads get checked to make sure that the heads dont need a big shave.

Cheers

OK spoke to Southside Head Reconditioning and they reckon the Rover heads are normally good and only go soft with a major overheat. They do the hardness testing as part of the clean up and inspection. They reckon Permaseal gaskets are the go and the equal of Cometic - they are also an MLS gasket. They dont want me to spray Hylomar on the gasket either way...see below also from there site.

WARNING ON THE USE OF HYLOMAR! | Southside Cylinder Heads, Engine Reconditioning Australia

Cheers

Originally Posted by ozscott

OK spoke to Southside Head Reconditioning and they reckon the Rover heads are normally good and only go soft with a major overheat. They do the hardness testing as part of the clean up and inspection. They reckon Permaseal gaskets are the go and the equal of Cometic - they are also an MLS gasket. They dont want me to spray Hylomar on the gasket either way...see below also from there site.

WARNING ON THE USE OF HYLOMAR! | Southside Cylinder Heads, Engine Reconditioning Australia

Cheers

One thing ppls forget is the block, people get head work done, fit new gaskets and sometimes the gaskets blow not many kms after. Some times just running a straight edge across a block is not accurate., and the block is the problem.
I remember an incidence on a Tdi300, 3 heads and gaskets fitted and it blew the head gaskets, it blew them in the same place everytime. Off course the usual was Blame the heads, blame the gaskets, but the cause was the block had a warp. only slight and not picked up by using a straight edge.

When you refit the heads, just be aware that you may or may not have a problem lining up the throttle body bolt holes to the heads. When heads are machined a skim of metal is removed, this decreases their height. Then take the consideration of the head gasket used, your head has had work done prior to this hasn't it, was it also machined at the time?

What happens with all this work, the Valley dimensions might have changed. A few people have experienced this in the past when the try to fit the bolts that bolt up the lower intake manifold. You might find the thread will not line up with the hole in the heads. You may find you will gently have to file the hole on the Valley gasket to get the bolt to go in correctly, it'll only be a very small amount like the edge of the bolt thread. It'll be self explanatory when it happens.
Cheers, Mario