Larry, the only way that I can get my heads to seal using steel shim
head gaskets is to use copper wire O-rings around where it seals to
the top of the liners, as well as between the water jacket and the
lifter valleys.
Your problem sounds more like the cracked head that I had at Watkins
Glen in September. It blew so much water out of the overflow that it
overflowed all over and ran out of water. The head had been cut about
220/1000 and was way to thin. It had 7 clearly visable cracks, but
one that was quite large. Joe(B)
----- Original Message -----
From: Larry Young <cartravel@pobox.com>
To: <fot@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 12:04 PM
Subject: Head Sealing Problem?
> I'm trying to figure out what's going on with my TR3 engine. Ever
since
> I rebuilt the engine, I've had a problem with it blowing water out
into
> the overflow bottle. In a 20 minute race, it will blow about a
quart
> into the overflow. It's also running hot. I'm not getting any
water in
> the oil. I'm running a solid copper head gasket and used a block
sealer
> after I installed the head. I also pressure tested the block and
all
> was fine. After the first race weekend, I checked for combustion
leaks
> into the radiator using a kit which has a dye in it. The dye is
> supposed to change color if combustion gases are present in the
cooling
> system. I couldn't tell for sure whether it was changing color or
not,
> so I retorqued the head and treated it again with block sealer. I
did
> have to turn the nuts to get the torque back to 100 lb and one stud
felt
> a bit squishy, like it didn't want to tighten up. I gather from
resent
> posts, that this is abnormal. It continues to blow water out the
> overflow. I think I've got a head gasket that leaks only under
load,
> i.e. race conditions. However, others I've talked to aren't so
sure.
> I'm thinking I need to pull the head to try and figure out what's
going
> on. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
> Thanks,
> Larry Young
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