Head Gasket? - Continued
 

... all the parts for the head change have arrived apart from a couple of M6 studs and ... the reconditioned head.

I'm quite looking forward to this little job - and it should make the RB even nicer.

:-)

Yay!!! Looking forward to plenty of progress photos and the write up on this Alan! :thumbs_up:

I very nearly let my impatience get the better of me this afternoon Dave. I was tempted to start the job and strip out the old head, which should only take a couple of hours. The trouble is I know myself too well: I'd have given the old head a check over for obvious faults and if it looked okay I'd have probably had the car back together tonight. Then the new head would have turned up on Monday - which would have irritated me sitting wrapped up unused in the garage - so I'd have done the whole thing again next week.

Anyway, I managed to stop myself and threw a ball for Bob instead :-)

I'll take a more considered approach, wait for the last few bits to show up, then do it properly once (I hope!).

Stay safe,

Alan

No good getting ahead of yourself Alan! :nah:

You bought the head with the sole purpose of fitting the best available head to the RB now and the other one going into storage (perhaps after refurb at your leaisure) and now it would be silly to not do that.

You may well find the head is pitted around the area between #1 combustion chamber and one of the waterways (i suspect that is the case) and will need repair before refitting.

Absolutely Dave! I managed to rein myself in before I did any damage :-)

Stay safe.

Alan

It probably wouldn't have hurt to start stripping it though. :tounge_smile:

Trouble with that though Alan, you'll forget where everything goes!

Hope you've got loads of emoty plastic takeaway boxes? They're ideal for keeping various things in, especially if you need to sort them into cylinders 1, 2, 3 and 4 and keep the bits separate.

No, it will be best to strip and re-assemble on the same day if I can - I don't really want a blackbird making a nest in one of the cylinders while the head is off :-)

'Morning, Alan - you may speak in jest, but it can happen!

Years ago, we kept a small cruiser on the Soar. Every Sunday PM I would go to the boat to check that all was well. One day, I found some weeds and foliage in the engine bay that hadn't been there the previous week. Thinking nothing of it, I returned it to the water.

The following week, it was there again, but in greater quantity. i realised that it was the makings of a nest and decided to leave it. Later, I found a coot in residence sitting on four eggs. I know for certain that she raised at least three chicks (which gave me a nice warm feeling) but in doing so, the pesky critter cost us the first few weeks of that season!

Good luck with your head job. :regular_smile:

Regards, John.

PS Our boat had a 9.9 4-stroke twin Honda O/B. A beautiful piece of engineering, built like a Swiss watch. J.

Wise move Alan! On a breaker i had a few years back, a bird took up residence on a nest under the bonnet, got some photos somewhere. Happened almost overnight. Tame little thing it was, a bit worried the first time i opened the bonnet but after that, fairly used to it and i brought food for her so she obviously knew and understood i wasn't going to hurt her.

On another forum i'm on, one of the members has a robin nesting just inside his front bumper, happened in a similarly quick time.




A small price to pay John to be a part of something many of us will never see on a one to one basis without hidden cameras etc.

As for Honda engines, excellent engineering! :thumbs_up:

Excellent story.

:-)