Re: Stag engine opinions wanted

[Tom Jell <thomas.jell@domain.elided>]

Bruce:

>One
>area that does seem to have one of the major leaks is at the rear
>of the right-hand head - apparently a head gasket leak.

Make sure it's not only the camshaft cover (cork seal + halfmoon rubber !). That's an usual leaking area. 

Make sure that it is not only the aluminium housing on the rear end of the cylinder head. On the right side it's "easy" accessible and a new gasket is cheap.

Third check that head bolts have the required 55lbf ft torque.

Getting down the heads, you probably may know, may result in a desaster.

If it really leaks from the head gasket, at the rear end the oil is just dropping down back to the sump. So no pressure ! I suggest to just clean (oil free) this part and apply some aftermarket sealant. These silicon type sealants do quite a good job and you only need to get them in heat resistant type. It doesn't look that nice (but you anyway need a mirror to see it) but it costs you almost nothing.

All other potential leaks: Oil sump gasket, engine front seal, chain cover seals(check the chains once you have it open!) are not the big job, only engine back seal requires to remove the tranny.

My suggestion is NOT to rebuild a fairly well running engine.

Tom

"That's not a leak... My car is just marking its territory!"
  (stolen from Greg Petrolati)

"Life is too short to drive boring cars!"
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Thomas Jell                       | '79 Spitfire (running, running, ...)
81730 Muenchen                    | '74 STAG     (running ... after some work)
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                                  | '63 TR 4     (being rebuilt)
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