Steven,
Sounds to me like you did everything 'right.' Do you recall the brand of
gasket you used? Payen used to be the 'go-to' and I think might have
been OEM equipment, but I heard--Disclaimer: hearsay--they, like a lot
of other companies, moved their manufacturing overseas at some point,
and quality suffered. I had my BJ8's engine overhauled a few years ago
and, like you, had a well-known speed shop do the rebuild, but the
otherwise excellent mechanic goofed: He installed points so he could
static time the engine and get it to fire quickly on the test stand, but
he apparently didn't think to re-time the distributor when he
re-installed the Pertronix Ignitor. When I got the engine back in the
car and started it up it barely ran and backfired like crazy. Turns out
it was running about 20deg retarded.
Fortunately, I had a Payen gasket set I'd bought decades ago and I
supplied it to the mechanic; no issues with (my car's) head in over 6K
miles.
Bob
On 2/23/2022 8:34 AM, Steven Kingsbury via Healeys wrote:
> Let me start with a little history with this email. My engine has just
> a shade under 3,000 miles on it since rebuild. The head was checked
> for cracks, none found and was ever so slightly shaved to make sure it
> was completely flat. The machine shop I use builds race engines and
> they do really good, reliable work.
> Then the block was gone through, new sleeves inserted and bored so to
> fit my new pistons. Again the top of the block was checked and double
> checked to make sure it was flat and mated to the head.
> When I fired this engine up for the first time after rebuild, she lept
> to life! No turning it over and over and over. She fired right up. I
> was quite pleased.
> I ran the engine for about twenty minutes at 2,000 RPM, never got
> above 180 degrees and then took her out on the road. I took care not
> to over rev, and drove up a long hill in third gear at low RPM to help
> set the rings.
> I did have some problems with the distributor, but that was fixed and
> at fifty miles I checked the head again for torque. I drove the car
> more and retorqued the head again at 150 miles, all was fine.
> I checked again at 500 miles and again at 1500 miles. All was fine.
> Anyway, this history is to let you know I think I did everything I
> could and did everything overly cautious to break this engine in
> correctly. And this engine was running great! My car was a joy to
> drive and loved cruising down the freeway at 80 mph! Seventy was a
> sweet spot and was a joy to drive.
> I'm now thinking of going with the aluminum head thanks to the
> combined wisdom of this list. Aluminum head with the steel gasket.
> I've heard nothing but good news about them and I don't want to have
> that worry/doubt while driving down the road. I am also going to
> continue down the path of fixing this head as I think it's worth it in
> the long run.
> I want to thank all of those sending in suggestions and tips and
> cautionary tales and things to look for and all of the views have led
> me to believe, bite the bullet and spend the money.
> Thank you all and I will report back!
> Steven Kingsbury
> BN1
>
>
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