Head back on

The head is back on. I've used a Percell copper-aluminum head gasket from Burtons with copper adhesive spray this time - let's hope this combination will solve my oil leak woes. Installation is a two person job, and an awkward one, with the engine in the car.

So, what went wrong? I don't know. The head and block were both checked and looked perfect. But I did find that 3 bolt holes (in the block) had a substantial amount of oil in them. My guess is the Cometic gasket (stainless steel / composite) allowed oil to weep between the head and block.

I spent about 7 hours cleaning the the block and front housing. An exercise I do not want to repeat...

Here we are today:

Made guide pins

The plan is to put the head back on this Friday. I made some mounting pins by cutting off the heads of the old bolts and filing the edges.

UPDATE: Be careful what you read online. Whoever suggested cutting the old head bolts, to use as guides, has given some bad advice - they aren't long enough to remove! Long wooden dowels from your local hardware store work perfectly.

British Car Day at Bronte Park

The British Car Day at Bronte Park was excellent: beautiful weather, nice cars and a great crowd. I picked up a few Lotus parts, a Smiths negative earth tachometer and a gear shift assembly for a baby Elan.

Delays and more delays

The weather in Canada has been unbearably hot recently, and I've been preoccupied with some house renovations. My plan is to get the twin cam back together in the next two weeks. I would really like to put more miles on the car before the winter arrives.

Ready to go back together

The head is back and the new gaskets and bits are here. It was a major job cleaning the block and scraping the old gasket off. I hope to put the engine back together in the next few weeks.

Head and valves OK

The machine shopped checked the head and valves - everything looks good. So, we're down to replacing the head gasket.

Much to my chagrin, the MLS gasket that was used is probably the component that failed. So I think I will go with a copper gasket this time.

Head off

Some pics (that is not a valve hitting the piston, it's a little finger scratching to see the build up).