Hi Pieter,
What is the issue is with head gaskets?
What size bore are you running? A few years back some guys had issues with
3.3 litre healey engines - but it turned out to be block porosity in several
of these cases - rather than head gaskets.
The other one I saw was where a neanderthal who wouldn't know a torque
wrench if you smacked him across the face with one had nearly managed to
pull the studs out of the block. "Can't ever do em up tight enough" he said.
Yeah right. He just kept on blaming the gasket manufacturer- until someone
else pulled out all his head studs, filed (yes - filed) down the raised
block face around the headstuds - and fitted another set of unstretched
studs.......
I'm running an off the shelf head gasket, (Payen)
http://www.ahspares.co.uk/products/productdetail.aspx?GUID=2521ed20-9fe2-4ba3-ad46-63ee7ee6cfd9
which came in a valve regrind set (VRS) 8 years ago. They are currently 35
pounds for the VRS set at AH Spares.
I've got slightly higher compression too
http://www.myaustinhealey.com/dyno_sheet.html
My general rule is if you want to know where a std component has a
reliability issue - first look to see who has already invented a better
mousetrap.... for example - when did you last have your Gearbox mainshaft
cracktested? Why did Denis Welch redesign the 3rd gear locking mechanism on
the 3000 mainshaft? http://www.bighealey.co.uk/section.php?id=7 Have a
close look at the alignment of the holes in a std one after you've had yours
cracktested .... anyway - I digress.....
Yet Denis Welch doesn't list a 'special head gasket' for a 3000
http://www.bighealey.co.uk/section.php?id=3
Having said that - in my experience, about 90% of head gasket related issues
I've ever seen have had very little to do with the actual gasket itself -
most have more to do with:
- previously overtightened studs (causing mushrooming of the block surface)
- warped head/ block surfaces
- stretched studs
- incorrect torque
- incorrect torquing procedure
- stretched headstuds
Having run a Sprite with a 180 thou overbore for a few years - you get to
learn a few engineering principles if you want to stop the oil, water and
combustion chambers sharing their contents....
So is anyone having a problem with the Payen gasket?
Best
Chris
www.myaustinhealey.com
---- Original Message -----
From: "Pieter and Linda Scheenhouwer" <pieterscheen@optusnet.com.au>
To: "Healey List" <healeys@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 1:24 PM
Subject: Healey head gaskets
> After having trouble with head gaskets in the past and because I am
> running
> a slightly elevated compression ratio I researched the modern or composite
> head gaskets available for the 3000. They seem to be the solution but the
> cost ( AUS$200 from a local healey specialist in Australia and AUS$320
> plus
> freight from England) is prohibitive. A long with a couple of club members
> we are looking at having tooling made to manufacture these gaskets by ACL
> in
> Brisbane and we can get their "race series" gaskets made for
> AUS$100(US$75)
> each, a considerable saving. The question, would we be able to move enough
> of these gaskets to cover the tooling costs. We don't want to make money
> but
> don't want to loose it either. Does "The List" think there would be enough
> interest for us to go ahead?
>
> Cheers
>
> Pieter
>
> Brisbane Australia.
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