[TR] Spitfire head gasket

[Chris Simo]

Any chance the block is not flat?

On Apr 2, 2017 7:55 PM, "Roger Elliott" <elliottr at rmi.net> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I have a 1980 Spitfire, the head has been rebuilt twice in the last 2,500
> miles.  (Shop claims something happened between first and second rebuild,
> so not their fault)
>
> Anyway, I have taken it for a few drives ~60  miles at a time and all
> seemed good, so we were going to take it on a bit longer drive.
>
> 35 miles from home, the temp gauge is pegged, I put in lots of water -
> maybe not quite a half gallon.  Started up to try to drive back home, there
> was lots of white smoke from the exhaust.  I don't think it was smoking
> much if at all before it overheated as I was kind of keeping an eye on the
> car behind us and did not see smoke.
>
> I got 3 miles and decided to call a tow truck.  It was low on water again
> - at least a quart in those 3 miles.
>
> I used a leak down tester - though didn't really do a real leak down test
> - to see if the cylinders were holding air.  All seemed fine except 4 which
> was not holding air and I could hear the air coming through the radiator
> water was bubbling.
>
> So, I took the head off expecting the head gasket to be blown or something
> obvious with the head.
>
> Head gasket was fine.  My checks of the head with feeler gauge and
> straight edge indicated it is flat.  I don't see anything wrong with the
> head.
>
> Do I need to have it checked for cracks?  Or what else could be wrong?
>
> Or could it be that the overheating loosened the head enough that water
> got past the gasket?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Roger Elliott
>
>
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