Bet youve never seen this.

[chevyguyjoe]

So i finally got my head off last night. That was alot more difficult than i thought it would be. Anyway when i got the head off, i couldn't believe what i found. I should start off by saying when i purchased the car, the previous owner said he had no knowledge of the head gasket being replaced. Here is what i found:



The metal gasket, AND the Toyota gasket pictured there were BOTH on the car! It wasnt leaking between the Toyota gasket and the head, nor between the gaskets, but it was leaking between the MHG and the block. I had a compression leak between EVERY cylinder, and a coolant leak.
Well if i ever get the thing back together it will be a miracle. There was much more difficulty in diss-assembly than i expected.

 

[MkIII FTW]

.....Some people should never be allowed to even look at a motor much less attempt to repair/build one.

 

[suprafreak123]

Damm what the hell.Well they added an extra security on that block lol.

 

[MachinaMacabre]

was it actually an MLS gasket or is it a single layer shim? when i rebuilt my motor i had a 20thou shim between the block and a regular head gasket to make up for the amount that was machined out to make everything straight.

 

[hvyman]

Looks to just be a layer of the stock style head gasket.

 

[MkIII FTW]

Looks to just be a layer of the stock style head gasket.

You know after second glance you may be right.

 

[chevyguyjoe]

Its a single piece of metal. Shim seems possible. It appears to be steel. What ever it is, it was the problem. It didnt seal against the block at all.

 

[ForcedTorque]

If you don't pull that motor and have it rebuilt, we will be waiting for the Rod Knock thread. You should go back with a metal gasket, but you should also research the proper RA values that you will need for that to work.

 

[kotu100]

Looks like a shim to me. I had to deal with that shit on my old 92. The shop that did the gasket for the previous owner installed it on there.
No idea how a shim is supposed to seal against the block but whatever.

 

[chevyguyjoe]

If you don't pull that motor and have it rebuilt, we will be waiting for the Rod Knock thread. You should go back with a metal gasket, but you should also research the proper RA values that you will need for that to work.

No time or money for an engine build. Im broke, and im using a borrowed garage space. Rods dont knock now. As long as i use the head gasket i got from toyota, and my arp bolts, i dont see why i will have sealing issues. The head is getting planed at a race shop. As long as i change the oil when im done, i dont see why the rods will knock in the future. The coolant didnt leak into the cylinder, and i dont see why compression leaking between cylinders would cause bottom end damage.

 

[chevyguyjoe]

Side note, i cant find a new cps cover, or that spark plug valley cover/ gasket. Mine are broken. Anybody know where i can find these?

 

[hvyman]

driftmotion.com

 

[kotu100]

Side note, i cant find a new cps cover, or that spark plug valley cover/ gasket. Mine are broken. Anybody know where i can find these?

FS section, toyota, driftmotion, fleabay, etc.

 

[MachinaMacabre]

Looks like a shim to me. I had to deal with that shit on my old 92. The shop that did the gasket for the previous owner installed it on there.
No idea how a shim is supposed to seal against the block but whatever.

I was told to spray the copper on both sides of the shim. The shim itself never gave me any problems, ran with it for nearly 10k miles. The gasket let go since I didn't retorque my studs, fixed that and then got a new head a few months later that hadn't been machined as much so I was able to ditch the shim.

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[7M4EVR]

I was told to spray the copper on both sides of the shim. The shim itself never gave me any problems, ran with it for nearly 10k miles. The gasket let go since I didn't retorque my studs, fixed that and then got a new head a few months later that hadn't been machined as much so I was able to ditch the shim.

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??
Whats wrong with just buying the right thickness headgasket?

 

[chevyguyjoe]

Ok. Ordered the cps cover, but i cant find the spark plug valley cover anywhere!

 

[MachinaMacabre]

The top of the block has a small amount of pitting even after some machining and I don't want to take it further down.

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[Silver MK3]

Ok. Ordered the cps cover, but i cant find the spark plug valley cover anywhere!

Get it from Toyota if you want a stock one, or you can use O-rings to seal the plugs and then leave the cover off. Search around if you want to see how to do the O-ring thing. Toyota P/N is 11219-42020.

 

[Backlash2032]

??
Whats wrong with just buying the right thickness headgasket?

Composite gaskets only come in one size.

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[7M4EVR]

Composite gaskets only come in one size.

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For a reason. Most tend to do it the right way (MLS).