[Healeys] Head Gasket Woes Part Three

[Bob Spidell]

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
>
>