Oil coming from between head and block after HG installation

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socc924

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Mar 31, 2005
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CT and Philly
NJsupraA70 oh god wow, lol. no wonder mk3 owners such as yourself get bhg's shortly after replacing their hg.
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I actually have never had a blown head gasket... Ever. I only went with a metal head gasket cause I was rebuilding my motor and figured I should do it while I was there. And I think that I have made it just fine up till now without "knowing what I'm doing".

And like jdub said, I used RTV on the front plate so it wasnt a problem that I just shaved it down a little myself. The front cover doesnt hold compression or anything so you shouldnt need a perfectly machined surface.

No offense, but you were offensive.
 
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IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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Another hint where the timing case is concerned and machinsts in general....

Make sure you take the correct bolts with the block and cover when you have it machined..

I had a block decked and bored and from day 1 the motor always had blowby :(

Turns out they either screwed a too long bolt or a lifting hook into the tensioner hole and while boring this pressed the bore inwards and when removed it left a concave circle in the bore where the rings can't touch....
(explains the blowby)
 
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socc924

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That sucks IJ. I remember I mixed all the front cover bolts up and took a pensil out and stuck it in the holes to see which bolt should go where. at least I separated them by sections. lol

Machists have a tough job though. The front cover was probably my fault cause when I had my motor cleaned for the head gasket, I was doing all other myself. The place was used to doing all the assembly and disassembly and I went in with very specific specs that I read on here that I needed and was probably a pain to them. Forget my life story though, haha, I just thought it might have been this guys problem too.
 
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IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
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Yep it both blew and sucked :(

Trashed my original block as it was last OS when it was bored so in the bin it went...

I have a dead virgin na 7M here I used as a 3d TRSM when I assembled my new motor as I had 3 motors worth of fasteners all mixed up....
(Project took a lot longer than I expected so memory didn't work!)
(Everything is labeled in baggies this time)
 
jdub

jdub

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socc924 said:
And like jdub said, I used RTV on the front plate so it wasnt a problem that I just shaved it down a little myself. The front cover doesnt hold compression or anything so you shouldnt need a perfectly machined surface.
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That's correct...you don't have to have the front cover machined perfectly. Just enough to make it a tiny bit lower than the block deck.

There is something that is holding the head off the block to have that many different oil leaks...I guess you will have to pull the head to find out. Let us know...I've never seen this one!
 
Supracentral

Supracentral

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Mar 30, 2005
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jdub said:
That's correct...you don't have to have the front cover machined perfectly. Just enough to make it a tiny bit lower than the block deck.
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I can attest to that. When Eric Varah made 633 RWHP it was on a motor that he and I has to machine that cover with hand tools. Same story, goofy machinist didn't mill it even though he was specifically told to. We got the motor back with the cover off, and right away we knew it wasn't machined.

AFAIK, he's never had a HG problem, even at that power level.
 
redmkiii

redmkiii

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Mar 9, 2006
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Thanks guys for all your help hopefully I'll have it taken off by this weekend and I'll let you guys know what happened.
 
bigaaron

bigaaron

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Apr 12, 2005
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Cometic :thumbdown

I would consider those gaskets to be designed incorrectly and Cometic should recall all of them and redesign them. Or minimum put a big sticker on the bag that says to remove the rivets.
 
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IJ.

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Supracentral said:
I can attest to that. When Eric Varah made 633 RWHP it was on a motor that he and I has to machine that cover with hand tools. Same story, goofy machinist didn't mill it even though he was specifically told to. We got the motor back with the cover off, and right away we knew it wasn't machined.

AFAIK, he's never had a HG problem, even at that power level.
Click to expand...
Machine shops don't usually hire from Mensa ;)!
 
Supracentral

Supracentral

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Mar 30, 2005
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bigaaron said:
Then I was not too far off but I still think they should not have people modifying brand new metal gaskets with drill bits or grinders.
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That's why I only use HKS gaskets. It's not worth the couple of bucks IMHO...
 
redmkiii

redmkiii

Bluemkiii's Big brother
Mar 9, 2006
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Well I finally got the engine back together, turns out that it was the rivet! I fired her up and it sounded like never before. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to break her in? Thanks again for all your help.
 
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88turboma71

el3men2
Mar 30, 2005
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nyc
Hey guys i checked my coolant this afternoon before i took the car out for a ride and i see oil in my rad. looks like i have a bad hg. i have a cometic just like the other guys in this thread and i see oil leaking right above my timing belt tensioner which points to the rivet causing the problem. the engine was built at a reputable machine shop. Ive ordered another hg and im gonna start taking her apart this weekend. Anyone else heard of the cometic gasket rivet problem causing the oil and coolant to mix also in addition to leaks.
 
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