Head Gasket Has Gone On 1360 Xs

[djinuk 2]

head gasket has gone on 1360 xs, white smoke out the eghaust , no end of water in the oil , cant bleed the system. Therefore i have made the diagnosis that the head gasket has blown although the engine still runs but misfires and is hard to start. I am going to give it a shot replacing the head gasket myself , will the head need skimming and also is there anything to watch when im undertaking this. Any advice much appreciated.

 

cheers Damian

[t16ryan 1]

I would get it skimmed and pressure tested to be on the safe side, its str8 forward to do

[swordfish210 20]

yeah best off getting the head skimmed, when the head is off, rub the gasket surface on the block down with some 240 grade wet and dry to get a smooth surface again and just make sure that you put everything back where it came from and torque up all of the bolts again

[Casanova 0]

Its worth cleaning the crap out of the combustion chambers while you have the head off, and grind the valves in. Will do the engine no end of good! While you've got the head off, its worth doing the cambelt too as they're only a few quid.

 

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[djinuk 2]

had a new cam belt and pulleys a few days ago . Going to take the head off tomorrow, ive been told that the heads being alloy often need replacing alltogether not sure how true that is. Got a headgasket coming on trade for £9 .

 

Just out of interest what exactly do you mean about grind the valves in ?

Edited April 14, 2007 by djinuk

[Casanova 0]

While the head is off, take the valves out (you need a valve spring compressor for an OHC engine) and given the age of the car they're likely to be quite coked up. Mine were terrible. Then you can clean those up, clean the combustion chambers up and grind in the valves.

 

Grinding in the valves is when you get some abrasive paste and smear it around the rim of the valve (where it seals with the combustion chamber). The smoother the two surfaces are, the less compression will be lost past the valve. (Hope this is making sense). With grinding paste on the rim of the valve, then you slot it into position in the head), and spin it by hand (you use a kind of stick with a sucker on the end to hold the valve - stick to the valve face giving you something to hold and spin between your hands). Then you can pop the valve out again, clean the paste off the head and valve, and repeat with a finer paste to finish. You will have a shiny smooth valve seat ). I haven't explained that every well at all, but that's the general idea.

 

Grinding stick and paste kit:

http://tinyurl.com/2bxy7n

(actually, there's a much better how-to in that listing than I've managed!)

 

Valve spring compressor:

http://tinyurl.com/ywoxh2

 

Hope that makes vague sense - perhaps someone else can describe the process better!

 

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[swordfish210 20]

before you grind the valves in the valve seats and valves will probably need to be recut as well, so while it's being skimmed ask them to re-cut the seats and the valves. this will help the valves seat and it will be easier to grind them back in

[djinuk 2]

just out of interest do i have to put the engine into a certain position before i can take of the head. Also do i only need to lock of the top cam before taking the cambelt of, and also how do i go about doing this. Cheers for the explanation there, i will do that if its worth while at the same time.

[djinuk 2]

if anyone could find the time to write me out a step by step guide of doing my headgasket, taking into account locking the cam and how to do this i would be very appreciative, and could take pictures as i did it as maybe a guide for the site. I do have a haynes manual etc but as im sure you all know it over complicates things. regards Damian

[GazRallye 0]

Just follow the haynes manual, its simple enough really

[Mikey S 29 1 Cars]

if anyone could find the time to write me out a step by step guide of doing my headgasket, taking into account locking the cam and how to do this i would be very appreciative, and could take pictures as i did it as maybe a guide for the site. I do have a haynes manual etc but as im sure you all know it over complicates things. regards Damian

 

cambelts are easy mate. in the cam pulley theres a hole, line this up with the hole in the head and use an 8mm bolt to lock it. you can lock the crank up through the hole in the block at the front of the engine into the flywheel. i use a 6mm allen key for that.

 

then its just a case of stripping it down and making a note of where things come from and how they came apart. i find it easier to leave the inlet manifold on the head and remove the associated pipes from the carb.

 

with the exhaust manifold, just unbolt it from the head then undo the support bolt that bolts the front pipe to the gearbox and pull it away from the head. then its just a case of removing a few pipes etc.

 

lastly remove the rocker cover and splash plate, you will see the head bolts. crack them off individually with a bar and remove all 10. they are wet liner engines so the head must be rocked off the block or you will disturb the liners.

 

get the head skimmed and pressure tested while its off. recutting the valves and seats is a very good idea while its off and machine shops will only charge around 3-4 quid per valve and seat. while they are there they will replace the stem seals as these are the biggest cause of oil burning.

 

putting back together is just a reverse of removal but bare in mind that the headbolts have to be torqued in the correct order, check haynes as it will tell you how to do it. also the valve clearances will need doing aswell but thats simple, again haynes will show you how.

 

hope that helps, if you get stuck, holla!

 

mike

[djinuk 2]

thank you very much for the help there buddy, ill let you know if i run into problems,

 

just to add, will i need new head bolts ?

Edited April 16, 2007 by djinuk

[calvinhorse 870]

yes new head bolts! they streach (on purpose) and should only be used once.

[Casanova 0]

yes new head bolts! they streach (on purpose) and should only be used once.

I reused mine. What might go wrong? Not too concerned as the engine's only going to be in there for another couple of months, but just curious... I'll make sure I renew them on the replacement engine I'm building!

 

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[Mikey S 29 1 Cars]

I reused mine. What might go wrong? Not too concerned as the engine's only going to be in there for another couple of months, but just curious... I'll make sure I renew them on the replacement engine I'm building!

 

§

you have to renew them as they stretch, hence the name. if they were too long you probably would of bottomed out the head bolt when you tightened it down and it may of cracked the block. consider yourself lucky

Edited April 16, 2007 by pugger

[bren_1.3 1]

use the pumaracing method for tightening head-bolts up. works a treat.

[stuart_knight6 0]

When you take the head off to take it to the machine shop to have it skimmed, do you take the camshaft etc out or leave it as it is and let them work round it? I guess if they are going to re-seat the valves then they will do all themselves.

 

Good guide on stripping to head gasket.

[Mikey S 29 1 Cars]

When you take the head off to take it to the machine shop to have it skimmed, do you take the camshaft etc out or leave it as it is and let them work round it? I guess if they are going to re-seat the valves then they will do all themselves.

 

Good guide on stripping to head gasket.

 

the valve train is bolted to the head using the headbolts so when there removed the valve train can be removed and the valves will all close. there is no need to remove the cam as it doesnt get in the way of the face when skimming or the valves when they are removed.

Edited April 16, 2007 by pugger

[djinuk 2]

speant a couple of hours on it this afternoon, Got the head off without any real problems. Took the valves out with the compressior and a magnet. going to clean the combusition chambers tomorrow and scrape of the gasket and remove the plugs. Stem seals have on lots of coke on valves so going to replace them aswell. Costing me £44 for the headbolts and gasket set and stem seals, and £25 for the skim. I pulled a couple of studs out of the manifold head so i need to replace these, where do i go for them. Thanks for the help will keep your updated.

 

p.s im going to have the valves recut in not sure how much more this is going to cost me as of yet.

[djinuk 2]

the head is going away tomorow to be done, just out of interest when i get it back im guessing i put the cam back on before i refit the head and i lock it into its correct position, how do i go about retiming the engine ?

[Jrod 7]

You have to put the cam in before you bolt the head on as it goes under the valve train.

 

 

Just set the cam to TDC and assuming you locked the bottom end at TDC should be fine.

[djinuk 2]

ok, put it all back together 2day, started it up and all is good, not to sure on if i have set the tappets perfect but the car dosent seem to have mch power and its reving higher than before when driving it slowly, also it dosent seem to like ideling very much and sound a bit tappety, will this be the rockers not set correct or the timing on the dizzy ?