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Can't find a head gasket: engine builders?


Drax240z

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Hi guys, I have the gasket getting machined along with some block work. I decided to make the changes in the basic HKS (Nismo) gasket to improve the cooling of the engine. When the gasket is completed I will send it out for copy. The changes in the part will not affect how it is put on a stock block, and work with a modified block.

I am not going to talk to much about the block mods, as I am still doing the R&D to make sure there is an improvement and I'm not just pissing into the wind.

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Hi guys, I have the gasket getting machined along with some block work. I decided to make the changes in the basic HKS (Nismo) gasket to improve the cooling of the engine. When the gasket is completed I will send it out for copy. The changes in the part will not affect how it is put on a stock block, and work with a modified block.

I am not going to talk to much about the block mods, as I am still doing the R&D to make sure there is an improvement and I'm not just pissing into the wind.

 

Im excited to see the results from this. It will be great to have a well engineered MLS gasket available again from the L engines that possibly won't cost as much as the Kameari gaskets.

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Well, this sucks.

 

First fit the felpro/O-ring combo and had coolant leaking out the passenger side of the head/block connection at cylinder #2. Tore it down, measured the o-rings at 0.017" proud of the deck. My research combined with posts here indicates the desirable crush is 0.006"-0.013".

 

Put in the new Ishino head gasket, with no O-rings in place. Coolant leaking out of the same side next to #4.

 

@#$%^*(#$^#@$&*#@!!!!

 

I'm kindof at a loss... the block and head were both decked... ideas welcome.

Edited by Drax240z
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I can see it pretty clearly, coolant seeping out of the headgasket in the #4 cylinder area on the passenger side. Unobstructed view.

 

I'll be pulling the head again tomorrow and checking everything... again. I've never had an engine build go so badly as this one.

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What's that stuff, Prussian blue?

 

Put the head on with out gasket, check for gaps.

 

Dude, so sucks!

 

Your sitting on one of those problems, brand new gaskets suck?, or machine work sucks, both are new!!! One of the worse problems.

 

This assumes you actually put in any or all of the head bolts, and torqued any or all of the bolts;) or that you did not bottom out the bolts, or hydraulic them, etc...

 

Or you put on the head gasket correctly, not sideways or any thing;).

 

Trying to add levity since 05.

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There are zero head bolts installed and none torqued down.

 

However, I've got all the ARP head studs installed. :P torqued 20-40-60ft-lbs, using the ARP supplied lube. Studs are oiled and installed by hand into the block, until just before they bottom. All the hardware is new, they ARE the correct studs, length has been verified to be correct. (ie: nuts are not bottoming on the threads, preventing proper tightening)

 

The head will be coming off again this morning, I'm going to recheck everything with a more critical eye this time around. I did not double check the work of the machine shops, and given the history of this stuff, I have enough reason to question whether the work was done well...

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What I found was not much.

 

Best guess is that the O-ring grooves were machined too far from the cylinder bore, and too close to the coolant passages, causing the coolant passages to not seal very well. Added a bunch of copper high-tack to the gasket, put a finger smear of RTV around each coolant passage (and I mean a tiny smear) and all is well this time around.

 

Block was flat. Head was flat.

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High temp copper RTV.

 

Remember, this is just a smear around the coolant passages, I'm not trying to compensate for warpage or anything like that. The cylinders (ie: where the pressure is) will seal very well without the RTV. I am trying to seal a 13psi passage that has a 0.001"-0.002" gap at worst... it won't take much.

 

If it's a problem this time around, last resort is tearing down a $5000 bottom end and starting with a new block.

Edited by Drax240z
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