Bryan,
Has the head been skimmed to inrease the compression ratio?
If it has, it may pay to check to see if its truly flat.
When the milling machine cuts the material away it does so leaving an
infintesimally small valley across the face of the head.
I used to lap, with lapping paste, the head to the block, no troubles at
all (this was recommended to me by a Mini Cooper S 1275 racer. A time
consuming job however.
The other thing I would look for is that there is an oil gallery running
close to the surface of the head, (I can't remember which end) and if the
head has been skimmed, then you may find that a crack has developed in that
area, as there is not much meat left.
Good luck,
Dave Cooper
----------
> From: Bryan Vandiver <Bryan.Vandiver@Eng.Sun.COM>
> To: spridgets@autox.team.net
> Subject: blown head gasket
> Date: Wednesday, 18 August 1999 3:47
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> Well it looks like the joy of getting my bugeye on the road is 'short
lived'. As
> I was working on trying to create a better ground connection for my horn,
I
> noticed oil on the side of my newly rebuilt and running 1275 motor
(doah!). It
> appears to leaking down from under the head, and some is being sprayed on
my
> exhaust manifold. I probably have less than 100 miles on this fresh
complete
> rebuild :-(
> In any case, I'm not sure exactly what I did wrong.. I used one of the
'copper'
> head gaskets from MiniMania, and an ARP head bolt kit. The head bolts
were
> torqued to 45lbs using the ARP 'special' grease. The engine was first run
for
> 15-20 minutes at 2500 RPM, and then taken for three test drives about two
weeks
> later(each drive was no more than 5-10 minutes). I re-torqued the head
after the
> third test drive while the engine was still hot (45lbs) (25lbs for rocker
nuts).
> I don't know exactly when the head started leaking oil, so I can't say if
it was
> before or after re-torqued the head.
> I also looked in the radiator, and noticed some oil there.
> I guess I'll go the MiniMania sometime this week and pick up another head
> gasket, and start again, but does anyone have a suggestion on what I did
wrong
> the first time?? did I not retorque the head soon enough.. Not enough
torque?
> Should I use a different type of gasket? did I forget to say the proper
> Lucas/BMC prayer before hitting the road?? animal sacrifice??
>
> Regards
> Bryan Vandiver (59-bugeye)
> San Jose CA
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