Right, I blew my own head gasket. Left a water pipe unclipped from the veg conversion and she started spraying water in the engine bay. Caught that quick enough, turned her off, clipped the hose back on and refilled the water. Let it cool, though at this stage it hadn't gone above normal operating temperature. Turned it back on and let it come up to temp. 15 mins at stand still and all seemed fine. Where I need to beat myself is I didn't think to check for air locks. I know now that I had one because as I was driving home I went to put the heater on and got cold air. Right at the same time the gradient turned to a steep uphill with no where to pull over and I suddenly noticed the temp gauge climbing higher than a rocket. With no where to stop I made it to the top but when I popped the bonnet I could hear hissing from the cylinder head and the expansion tank was BOILING. Once it cooled I checked and indeed I have oil in the expansion chamber. So, I'll take my donkey of the year prize, what with connecting my veg kit to a relay that auto turns off too!! .... and I'll submit a check list for parts that I need you guys to confirm so I can get cracking.............

Cylinder head (getting a fully built one as the price compared to a bare one makes it worth while)
Head Gasket
Head bolts
Water pump
Belt and tensioner kit
Exhaust manifold gasket, studs and nuts
Inlet manifold gasket

Anything I have forgotten? Dependant on cost I may get my inlet and cylinder head port matched and polished while I'm at it too. Lez if youre reading this I'd really like that inlet manifold off you now?

aww crap! not a time for jokes this - feel for you bud, lez will two. what a nightmare - been there twice masell - not good. the clever ones will confirm your parts list directly. Good luck

Basil
(soz couldn`t help masell)

Trust me it does make it worse that I had a good one which had done plenty of miles with no problem, well looked aftr by the previous owner whom I know and after all that this is MY fault.

if it makes you feel any better (prob not) I actually heard mine hissing the night before , and forgot to check before i set out the following morning - no water at all !
I believe that was the very first donkey of the week on the old circus

headgasket kit comes with all gaskets get water pump

I bough a full engine gasket set off eBay for around £40 that came with all gaskets

bloody hell mate, what a twat of a thing to happen

Gutted for you pal, keep us posted on your progress

inlet & exhaust gasket are one and the same. You need a genuine one if you are port-matching.
Oil & filter, Coolant,
Have you got anything to check block flatness with?
Almost worth testing glowplugs and injectors while you are that far in as well

Glow plugs and injectors will be changed too. Need new glow pugs anyway. How do you mean inlet and exhaust gasket are the same? Shape wise? Got oil, filter and coolant here. Good pointon the block flatness...........but if that ain't flat it's a new engine. Steel ruler should do the job side to side and on the angles?

Steel rule and a light is a good indication,

No, the inlet and exhaust gasket is one single piece gasket that has 8 holes in it. (so you only need to buy 1 gasket)

it's only worth checking the block for flat as if it's not (although unlikly) and you bolt a new head to it you will just waste a set of bolts and a gasket. at worse the head will warp to the block and feck that too

If your steel ruler is strighter than 0.1mm along the edge then thats you could use it..

Another thing worth doing:
Pistons sit proud of the block top. If you are not in a rush to get it back on the road you should mesure how much they stick out by and order the correct size head gasket to suit.
Also, with the head off, put No1 piston to top dead center according to the piston crown and the block top.
Then check your crank timing mark. I have seen them be 1 or even 2 teeth off on the timing marks, if this is the case take the pointer off the oil pump case and make a new mark in the right place

That's really crap. Feel for you - good luck with the rebuild

Thanks guys. Keep it coming....... got a pretty good feel for what's to be done but just trying to make sure I am dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

Do I need special tools for my cylinder head bolts?

Ignore that, comment. I don't.

Just purchased a honing tool for £34 delivered. Going to port match my inlet and exhaust manifolds while the head's off. Should help keep temps down and add a token amount of horsepower.

How many manifold head studs do I need for exhaust and inlet?

Everything is ordered now. Also putting new glow plugs and glow plug heater rail in, as it was starting to get a bit smoky on start up anyway. Confirmed that company sending the head is also sending me a steel gasket. They weren't, was going to be a composite one but they've given me a steel gasket and not charged more. Which is nice.

best of luck on a quick rebuild mate



your veg oil will be wanting to be taken for a drive

Comes from the factory with 8 studs fitted for the exhaust (so you need washers and nuts as well)
I normally use stainless steel washers and copper nuts, can sort you out with a set if you need them.

The inlet manifold uses bolts so you can re-use them or fit studs if you wanted.

If they all come off ok then there is no reason you could not re-use the existing studs/nuts etc but normally they do tent to come out of the head rather than the nuts coming undone. It's also easy to lift/fit the head if you take all the studs out before pulling it off.

You also want a 'short' hex key (or cut down a long one) for the head bolts as some of them tend to twist when you bolt down so give a false angle reading.

What sort of honeing tool did you get? There is normally a decent bit to remove when port matching and I normally start with a grinder (round stone in a drill) then move to a small sanding drum in a dremal type tool, then a scotch wheel is enough for the final match up.

It's worth doing (depending on how far out it is to start) and you will notice it picks up a bit better.
Don't bother polishing it up too much though as that makes bugger all odds as they don't rev high enough

Wenn Sie hier auf Links zu eBay klicken und einen Kauf tätigen, kann dies dazu führen, dass diese Website eine Provision erhält.

im not keen on stones for removal of metal in alluminium alloys personally, the stones clog to easy, my preff is initially to use something like Werbung: this, then once the majority of the metals removed use a sanding drum to finish off

dunno what your going to use as a lube, when machining aluminium i find paraffin gives the best results, on a recent honing of an alloy tube i found the same with that as well

Wenn Sie hier auf Links zu eBay klicken und einen Kauf tätigen, kann dies dazu führen, dass diese Website eine Provision erhält.

Could you possibly sort me some nuts and washers Billy? As you say, may not need them but I'd rather not get stuck needing some. Couldn't find any on Milners, but I do have new studs coming. I've already got a pretty comprehensive tool kit and ratchet set so I should be good for the head Bolts.

This is the honing tool I've got coming Werbung: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Large-Cyli...#ht_2224wt_1029

Chatting to a friend (who has taught me a lot, and drives a V8 Holden) he said that should do the trick.)

thats what i use on cylinders, you need to use lube with them and they are not fast in removing metal, better in a parallel bore than they are on anything tapered or curved

And you reckon Paraffin yeah?