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Re: [Fot] What a week. What a month. What a year.

To: Rick McCurdy <fmccjr@aol.com>
Subject: Re: [Fot] What a week. What a month. What a year.
From: Tony Drews via Fot <fot@autox.team.net>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2019 13:15:36 -0400
Cc: fot@autox.team.net
Delivered-to: mharc@autox.team.net
Delivered-to: fot@autox.team.net
References: <D48C54F7-30AA-41D7-B397-9B96A9438EEE.ref@aol.com> <B472D77B-8CFC-4EE0-B1B8-F760C8A179A0@aol.com>
User-agent: Horde Application Framework 5
I use Cometic head gasket.  Fire ring is round, so you may need to go  
larger than cylinder diameter to minimize protrusion in the eyebrow of  
the intake pocket in the head.  The have up to 91 mm diameter if you  
call them (website just shows 88 mm).  Two thicknesses are available  
too.  I run the 91 mm diameter one.

For intake gasket, Remflex is the way to go if you have sealing  
issues.  They have a pre cut option, or you can buy partial sheets and  
make your own.  I make my own because the intake port holes are too  
large and my intake manifold has narrow sealing surfaces.

Tony Drews

Quoting Rick McCurdy via Fot <fot@autox.team.net>:

> Some of you may have heard about a New Yorkersâ?? attempt to get to the
> K Cup last weekend, but hereâ??s the skinny:
>
> After long weeks of long days, I finished repairing bodywork from  
> when I smacked the wall backwards at the Canadian Vintage Gran Prix  
> at Mosport last June, and the car reassembled (just) in time to  
> depart New Yorkâ??s Hudson Valley on Sunday morning,  April 28. Of  
> course, the one thing I didnâ??t have time to do before loading was to  
> get the car running. Since I was planning on passing through Dayton,  
> I called a long time Sunbeam club friend and asked for help. (How  
> tough is it to get a tractor engine to run?!) Doug Jennings, who  
> owned Tiger Auto in Dayton for decades before retiring a few years  
> ago was the perfect choice.
>
> I arrived at Dougâ??s around 8:30, had a quick bite of his wifeâ??s  
> (wonderful!) Lasagna, and winched the car into his garage to get the  
> tr3 started. 3 hours later, nothing. Bupkis. Nada. We could not get  
> the car to even cough using starting fluid! New plugs the next  
> morning didnâ??t matter. The car would. not. start.
>
> I left Dayton for home sometime after noon the next day, an unhappy  
> camper. Disappointing as it was, there still is no sense in dragging  
> a dead race car to California and back. So, I went home.
>
> There is spark, fuel and (barely)compression. When I got home I took  
> it to another Brit car friend who owns a shop and offered to give it  
> a look. We measured an average 105 lbs for comp (it should have done  
> SOMETHING!) and timing was judged to be correct. What we did not do  
> was a leak down test. I donâ??t know why we didnâ??t think of that  
> before removing the head... Where the heck is mine when I need it?!
>
> Head removal revealed some scoring of the walls, ugly corrosion in  
> the chambers, but nothing blatant. When I crashed last year,  
> apparently the top rad hose popped off the spout and water was  
> introduced into the intake. Who knew!? I hit the wall backwards  
> after rounding turn 10, and the little birdies were flying around  
> the little stars before I shut down the motor and gingerly  
> extricated myself from the car. I didnâ??t know for 6 more weeks that  
> I had a handful of broken vertebrae (thank you, HANS device..!), now  
> fully repaired with the neurosurgeons approval to race, by the way.  
> I discovered the water evidence when I had to remove the manifolds  
> to weld up the ripped exhaust collector. Inside the ports were rust  
> remains that definitely should not have been there- and the starter  
> didnâ??t spin the motor until I pulled plugs, squirted WD-40 into the  
> cyls and bumped the started button until it loosened up and spun  
> freely.
> Next season, when the water is drained for winter, it will get the  
> cylinders lubricated! That is, when I finally get the darn thing to  
> run...
>
> My big adventure was a bust. Bummed I missed it (a good one, from  
> all the great comments!), bummed I didnâ??t get to see west coast  
> friends, but still determined to be at Mid-Ohio next year!
>
> Since Iâ??ve had the head and manifolds off a number of times, itâ??s  
> time for a new gaskets (both head and manifold). The solid copper  
> gasket worked great, but took me at least three tries to get it to  
> seal after the prev head gasket failed at the â??17 Lime Rock  
> Historics. I ended up using silicone ll. It worked, but itâ??s messy  
> and unorthodox.
>
> So, does anyone have a suggestion for replacement gaskets? Iâ??m not  
> trying to be a frontrunner, I just crave reliability at this point-  
> a weekend where I can drive off the trailer, race, and drive back on  
> the trailer with nothing broken or suspect. Just once!
>
> Down, but not out. Yours truly,
>
> Rick McCurdy
> Newburgh, NY
>
> I know... I know, I waited a long time to work on the car, but I was  
> working on restoring a friends big Healey, and that had priority.  
> Itâ??s beautiful, but took much longer than anticipated. Just call me  
> â??Mr. Vertical Learning Curveâ??!



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