Morris Minor Owners Club

I have just replaced the head gasket on the 1098cc engine. It had blown between no's 1 and 2 cylinders. Can someone tell me how long I should run the engine before re-torquing the head nuts down again. I daresay this subject has been discussed many times in the past, but I can't find any info on the topic. The official BMC manual which I have does not mention re-torquing the head after running the engine for a while.

There is certainly not much meat between the cylinders. I would think that when the engines were 803cc there would be more. I just wonder how the 1275cc version copes.

Regards, Clive.

You should see my 1360 engine - it's extremely thin between 2 and 3 especially!! The standard 1275 has loads of meat - and a 1098 more than enough. You need to wonder why the gasket blew - did the engine get a boiling/run short of water - anything like that? Did you run a straight edge over the head to check if it has warped ? I run the engine up to temperature and let it idle away for a while - then switch off and let it cool - then go round and re-torque to 44 lbf-ft, and then tighten down the 4 small rocker shaft nuts - and re-set the valve clearances. It may then be an idea to repeat that exercise after say 500 miles - although really that shouldn't be necessary.

The reason it blew was that someone who worked on the engine before I owned the car, had removed the metal heater pipe which runs accross the head and the brackets which share two of the head nuts and had omitted to tighten down the head nuts again after refitting the pipe. The nuts were not even finger tight. The concensuss of people I consulted said don't tighten them down. But I was losing water from the head joint in that area and the leak was getting worse, so i tightened the two nuts down. A couple of days later. the inevitable happened and the gasket blew. It had to be the first two cylinders.

I was only a couple of miles from home and it was all downhill and as there was no burning on the head or block, I decided to take a chance and just replace the gasket. Time will tell, but if the new gasket blows, I will exchange the head for a lead free one, which mine isn't..

Thanks for info, Clive.

Well you were right to tighten the loose nuts - although you should ideally have tightened them ALL at the time. However these two nuts are some way off from the gap between 1 and 2 cylinders - so I'm not convinced this is directly related - but if they didn't tighten these nuts - then who knows what other sins were committed! Well done getting it changed- fingers crossed. You should be ok - my car blew the gasket after getting boiled by my daft local MOT garage. I had to change it at the roadside - and 6 years later it was still perfect when I took the head off to fit an even more upgraded head. So - provided the car was not driven any distance with the gasket blowing - it 'should' be ok !!

The concensuss of people I consulted said don't tighten them down.

As Bmcecosse says you were right to tighten them, I hope it wasnt members of your local branch who reccommended leaving them loose if that was the case there wouldnt be much point in them being there, so fingers crossed but it sounds like all should be OK.

I hope it wasnt members of your local branch who reccommended leaving them loose

Yes Kevin, I'm afraid to say it was !!

regards, Clive

Hmmm - some 'consultants' - give them a very wide berth in future!