Not What I Wanted To See

[owlman2222]

When at hollowell I had a thurmostate failure,

 

I know it was a first for me and I am sure for some others looking at there faces when there was water coming out of every cylinder with the spark plugs out and as quickly as you filled up the cooling system it leaked into every cylinder i Was expecting head gasket to be in peices but was shocked it wasn't and that it was completely head failure.

 

Dose anyone know what is the max you can skim off a zetec silver top head

Edited July 9, 2014 by owlman

[steve in stockport]

That looks like a standard gasket, do you not need to upgrade to a steel or multi layer if you're running a supercharger?

[Guest chris brown]

Skim off the minimum to get it flat then as Steve says you need a multi layer gasket you may need a extra thick one to get the compression ratio down unless I suspect you may have the same problem again.

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Sorry . :sorry:

[Shaft]

How warped is it Jon?

I'd also revisit the torque settings you used when fitting this head originally.

What bolts where they? Hopefully not 99p Inc delivery from China.

[Guest Howtightpet]

Hi John

Sorry to hear your run out to hollowell. Did not go as planned :-(((

 

When I was sorting my black top was advised they skimmed 0.25mm to get flat but if you wanted to drop compression more for turbo or supercharge. They could take up to 3 mm ( would advise against that )

I would skim and use a 0.75 mm multi layer gasket this will also drop your compression for your supercharge.

As for head bolts agree only buy ford ones although running supercharger would go for ARP bolts direct from them

Don't buy them off e bay ( long story )

 

Hope you get it sorted soon

 

Alan

[owlman2222]

When I was sorting my black top was advised they skimmed 0.25mm to get flat but if you wanted to drop compression more for turbo or supercharge. They could take up to 3 mm ( would advise against that )

I would skim and use a 0.75 mm multi layer gasket this will also drop your compression for your supercharge.

skimming incresses C/R, it dose not drop C/R

 

head bolts were proper ford ones and torqued down to corect settings, even had work calabrate my torqe rench before install. (will be upgrading to APR stud kit now).

 

was told the standard head gasket would coupe with 350bhp+ and has done on many turbo cars for many years will be buying steal one now.

 

have only run a flat edge over it quickly and could run 0.5mm between chambers, it felt like i could get more but havent had the time to do it fully yet. on the head you can see where it has worped between chambers and water jacket as there black gas marks all round them.

 

think it might be best for me to spend another 2 weeks port matching a new head then having this one skimmed

[Guest Ian & Carole]

 

think it might be best for me to spend another 2 weeks port matching a new head then having this one skimmed

 

I agree fully having had that head fail so catastrophically I would replace it.

 

I think in the little dark spot in the back of your mind there would always be a little worrying doubt.

 

Stud kit and steel head gasket is the way to go now.

 

One other thing I would do is let it warm up nicely before you work it hard or use lots of revs, like wise allow to cool gently after a hard run, basically treat it like a race spec engine.

 

Lots and lots of respect.