School Boy Head Gasket Mistake......

[richardm6994]

Hi all, please don't laugh too loud but I made a bit of a school boy mistake and could do with some advice....

 

A year or so ago I had to replace big ends and pistons because of a huge engine failure at Donnington Park (long story.....).

 

Anyway, when putting the cylinder head back on, I noticed some pitting between the bores and the water holes..........and here come the school boy mistake.............I used a gasket compound hoping this would seal the pitting instead of getting the block re-ground (this stuff was suppose to work on pitted faces).

 

As expected (looking back), the head gasket failed yesterday as my radiator pressured up and water everywhere! (not fun with an aero screen at 40mph!)

 

Did a compression test and found the folowing;

cylinder 1 - 210psi

cylinder 2 - 230psi

cylinder 3 - 100psi

cylinder 4 - 210psi

 

Now here's where I need the advice......I've taken the head off and found that the gasket has blown through from the bore to the water jacket on cylinders 2 & 4.........cylinder 3 doesn't seem to have blown through at all?!?!?!

 

I've check the piston ring sealing (holdng fluid in the bores) and all the valves look okay......so why was cylinder 3 down on compression and not 2 & 4???

 

Also, I'm going to talk to the machine shop tomorrow but I'm a bit worried about not having enough metal left on the block thus leaving the deck too low after grinding??? How would I overcome this problem if it is the case? I've though about machining the block and then using a decompression plate to make back the thickness but I really have no idea (I don't even know if this will be a problem)

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated........and the sarcasm to a minimum because I already know what a fool I've been.....

[Snapperpaul]

If its a Pinto the piston will be 0.5mm to 0.38mm below deck, you can go flush no problems even 0.15 above deck is ok with a 1mm gasket.

As the standard gasket is 1.6 mm you have loads of room.

[richardm6994]

I know this may sound stupid, but is it possible to double up on head gaskets? A bit like having a decompression plate but without the plate