[Fot] spitfire h/gasket question

[Robert MacKenzie]

Tony:

What you have described is quite common.  I have had to change many head
gaskets on my (and my friends) Spits and found the same scenario.
They seem to run for a while then just give up for no real reason.

The only gasket to consider is the one made by Payen.   They seem to be the
only ones that last.  Some of the others will have the copper crush seals
that fit into the recesses but never seal as well.  Some of the paper or
copper coated paper gaskets that are floating around, often made in India,
are only good if the engine is an earlier block without the recess or has
been skimmed.  In that case I would go for a pure copper one anyway.

In my humble opinion you should replace the head studs while the head is
off. Stretched studs are the main cause of head gasket failures. At $5-$7
each that are not cheap but still cheaper than replacing the head gasket
again after a few heat cycles.  [Trust me on this...]  Also pay particular
attention to the torque sequence and go up in small steps.

I hope this helps.

Robert MacKenzie
Austin Texas
'79 1500 (street)
'71 GT6 MKIII (project)
'62 Spitfire 4 (race)

 

-----Original Message-----
From: fot-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:fot-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Tony and Annie Garmey
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 12:39 PM
To: fot at autox.team.net
Subject: [Fot] spitfire h/gasket question

Hi All, So, a street spit gets towed into my shop...new engine, unable to
start ! I get it run ...well kinda, so I remove the cylinder head and find
the
Flame ring from the head gasket has been forced into the bores on cyl.;s 1
and
2 (now looks like a heart shape). This engine has the recesses in the block.
The gasket does have the "Tab"(looks like a "county" gasket was used) , so I
believe the correct gasket . Flat top pistons (+ 020 ) . What else should I
look for ?Block surface is flat as is the head. The combustion chamber is is
500 thou deep to the valve, so compression is not an issue. What should the
depth of the recess be ? perhaps these were re machined ? Thank you Tony
Garmeywww.horizonracing.com
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