Gasket woes

Post by **Peetee** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 4:01 pm

I have just got a head gasket set from a local supplier and there is no helpful info to tell me which way to put it on. It's fibre on one side and metal on the other. The young sprog in the shop was no help either

Ideas please.

Post by **Cam** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 4:53 pm

It should be stamped on it - 'TOP' if I remember correctly......

Post by **Peetee** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 7:32 pm

it isn't.
In the meantime I managed to find the manufacturer. They said it doesn't matter which way up.
Cheers.

Post by **Willie** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 9:31 pm

Strange, never seen one which is different material on each
side. It is a fact that the gasket holes are identical on each side.

Post by **Gareth** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 10:00 am

Silly question - are you sure it's for an A-series and not a 1.1 K-series? They've recently changed the design of those, and they are indeed different on each face. Wouldn't fit an A-series though, so I very much doubt that it is the problem...

Post by **Peetee** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 2:57 pm

definitely A-Series old chap. The label said mini 60's - 80's etc etc. All the oil/water holes are in place so no miss match there.Every gasket I have used so far (3) have been double sided. 2 were copper/brass on one side and steel/aluminium on the other. The last was fibre and metal combo.

This is all to do with fitting a 12G295 head+1.5 carb on a 948cc mog. The first gasket was a duffer and water was getting into the cylinders.
It's off to SU specialist tomorrow (cross your fingers it gets that far

) so i'll let you know how it drives when it's sorted.

Post by **Gareth** » Tue Jul 01, 2003 3:40 pm

Ah well. That's fine then.

Good luck with the trip tomorrow! Take it steady, and you'll be fine.
Maybe take a large bottle of water, just in case? ;)

Post by **Kevin** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 2:53 pm

I managed to find the manufacturer. They said it doesn't matter which way up.

If that was correct why would the gasket be different on either side because if you can put it either side up why make both sides different and make the manufacturing costs more expensive, if this is a new style of gasket with different surfaces there must be a right and wrong way round because of plain old fashioned good engineering practice.
To make sure that I had not shot myself in the foot (old age again) I posed the question to a specialist who`s reply was interesting

These type of gaskets came on the market quite a long time ago but due to their unreliability

we stopped selling them and they were not always placed the right way that is metal side up, all the proper ones should be marked `TOP` copper side up, and I would not advise anyone to use one of these unmarked fibre sided gaskets on the `A` series engine due to our past experiences

Post by **Peetee** » Fri Jul 04, 2003 8:09 pm

Thanks, your quote "copper side up" explains where I went wrong with the first one. When the cylinder head came off it had a fibre gasket fitted and this had survived perfectly well. It was only after posing the original question that I remembered this, hunted down the old head and found the remains of the gasket on it. Because the manufacturrer said "either way up" I plumped for the way up that had proven itself as sound practice.

As the motor is effectively 'sooped up' this fibre gasket is likely to come in for a hard time. Not that I rev engines before they are properly warmed up of course. Anyhow I will keep you all posted as to how it copes.