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Re: Small heads in big engines

To: british-cars@hoosier, yak@doe.carleton.ca
Subject: Re: Small heads in big engines
From: greg@uts.amdahl.com (Greg Bullough)
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 91 12:55 PDT
Yatish Kumar tells us:

>  I just had the engine (1275cc) in my midget rebuilt.  500 miles later I
>took it back for the guy to look over.  Now he claims that the water from
>the cooling system is getting into the oil.  Reason ? Because the head is
>from a 1000cc engine.  He had made me aware of this during the rebuild but
>we had decided to leave it alone since things seemed to be going fine.

> Does anyone have any experience with this?? My Haynes manual does not seem
>to identify a separate head for each engine. Also any opinions on cost?

> He estimates something like $350-$400 Cdn. for a replacement.
> Plus labour etc.

I'd replace the mechanic's head (if necessary the whole assembly) first.
He's supposed to be the expert, and you paid him to rebuild the engine.
If he couldn't make it work, he should have said so then. What information
does he have now that he didn't have then? Or is he just using this as
an excuse for a crappy rebuild? If it wasn't happening before the rebuild,
why should it happen now?

"Button it up and see if it works" is okay when you do your own work.
When you bring it to a "professional," he should give you a choice
of things he knows will work at the outset. In any case, a head swap
shouldn't be that expensive on a Midget.

Greg


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