Morris Minor Owners Club

We had the head off this weekend.... put a new gasket on and it leaked (little bubbles came out of the side :s) the head came off again this morning and my dad reckoned the mating face wasn't completely flat (out buy a max of about 2 thou) do you think that the head needs skimming? or should it be ok? its about 1 thou low between cylinders 2 and 3 where the gasket blew....

my dad reckoned the mating face wasn't completely flat

Matt I think you have answered your own question, it cant be OK if it blows a new gasket and dont forget to check the block as well if you are unsure.

OK if it blows a new gasket

It didn't..... where i had put the gasket on, torqued down the head and then realised one of the cam followers had popped out... then fixed that with the same gasket and there were small bubbles coming from the join between the gasket and head (my assumption is where it had already been compressed...)

Hello Matt,
I don't believe that a 2 thou out of straight would be a problem. The gasket should accomodate that OK. Just be sure everything is absolutely clean. I presume that you are talking about a coolant leak. I have, when forced to, used a gasket more than once and it has been OK.
I would run the engine until warm, let it cool then re-torque the head and see if that cures it otherwise it's head off and re-check.

Alec

Lets hope were not looking at the batch of dodgy head gaskets problem we had a few months back.

let it cool then re-torque the head and see if that cures it otherwise it's head off and re-check.

did that and snapped a stud.....

Yike! didn't you say before that your torque wrench was a bit dodgy?? or am I making things up again.......

Yeah, this was with a torque wrench I borrowed, and dad decided it would be clever to do the nuts up to 60ftlbs... anyway dad got the stud out using a screwdriver.... (we only put them in 2/3 years ago with plenty of oil so it was easy (apparently))

Errr - 60 ft lbs is FAR too tight - you WILL distort the head doing this ! And as you see - snapped stud - the other will all be stretched now and should be replaced. You were lucky not to strip the thread in the block. 42 ft lbs is plenty - and do them in order, going round and round slowly increasing the torque. make sure you have good thick washers under all the nuts - including the ones on the rocker gear. Wee bubbles coming out the side of the gasket is probably nothing to worry about - and 2 thou head warp is well within the gaskets capability. Better with a copper faced gasket - and put a light smear of grease on each face. DO NOT attempt to use any form of gasket goo !!! After it has run for afew miles - re-torque it and re-set the tappets.

Thanks bmecosse I know that, my dad knows that he just thought it would be a clever idea to try and tighten it up some more!