> Fellow Spitters and other Triumphiliacs,
>
>
> After the primo driving season is over I plan to tackle an oil seepage
> problem on my car. It is not a gross leak but, rather, a small seep
> that appears to be coming from the back, left corner of the head, around
> where the oil passage is from the block. I only want to do this once,
> if I can help it, so I'm turning to the collective wisdom of this group.
>
> I've been advised that it's likely that the head will need skimming to
> ensure a flat surface for sealing. Is this normally the case? If so,
> and since the head's already off, should I go ahead and replace valve
> guides and springs and have the valves ground? A local shop gave me an
> approximate cost of $150 USD for labo(u)r for doing this, including a
> three-angle grind. BTW, compression seems o.k., 130 lbs. on all 4 cyls.
It's certainly worth spending some time cleaning the head up
(decoking) and grinding in the valves. Whether you replace the valves
and guides depends on what you finfd when you take the head off, i.e
is there any lateral movement of the valves within the guides? The
leak from oil passage is a common one and I don't know whether it
indicates head warping or not. I suspect that if the head needed
skimming the gasket would have blown before now.
> Lastly, while most I've talked with recommend putting the gasket on "bare"
> (the gasket, not me), Kipping says to use Hylomar (sp?) around the oil
> passage opening. (This may make sense since that's where my leak seems to
> be coming from). I assume Hylomar to be some sealing material, but I've
> never seen any here in the States. Is there an Americanized equivalent,
> copper spray, perhaps? Should any sealant be used?
Hylomar is just gasket sealer, in my opinion the best there is.
There's bound to be an American equivalent. I've never found it
necessary to use it around the oil hole but if you have an oil leak
here it may be worth using, John Kipping is rarely wrong about these
things.
BTW shipping is probably too expensive, but I know that Kippings head
gaskets are good.
Good luck,
Jonathan '77 Spit. 1500
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Dr J.E.Miles
School of Biological Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
Great Britain
Tel. 0121-414-5884
Fax. 0121-414-5925
j.e.miles@bham.ac.uk
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