GlacierI'm having head gasket failures after a recent overhaul of my 1980
Spitfire 1500. The gasket at cylinders 1 and 2 blew up after 200 miles of
the rebuild. The gasket used was the cheap ($10) aftermarket version with
dimpled metal coating. This gasket was hard to put in as the holes for the
studs seemed a little off and some holes had to be slightly deformed to fit.
So the failure seemed to be likely due to that, but the new gasket is the
$20 original equipment and this has also blown in just 20 miles!! I has not
pulled the head yet as the car seems to drive okay cold but it is missing a
full bottle of coolant from the overflow bottle. The same thing had happened
previously.
I did not check to see if the head was warped when I put it in and this does
not seem likely either as the car had never overheated before. The engine
had seized after oil pump failure but the gauge never showed any more than
regular temperature. There was also no apparant cylinder damage due to that.
Here's the list work done:
1. cylinder oversized to .020 and new pistons
2. The block is recessed (top of the bore has a recess that allows better
sealing with gasket, this was a problem with earlier spits)
3. full head rebuilt
4. runs on weber DGEV
5. new Crane ignition
6. Haynes torque sequence followed for tightening head
7. new water pump
8. engine runs luke warm on cool days and about the same on cold ones. New
winter thermostat installed.
I hope someone can help, its spring and it won't be long before the texas
hot weather moves in.
Best Wishes
Zahid
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