What's left of the Head gasket....

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crusadersports

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G Day Chaps,

Have a look at the below if you would...

What's left of the Head gasket....


What's left of the Head gasket....


What's left of the Head gasket....


Any idea about how to remove these deposits from the head gasket joint face? It's baked on as hard as hades. I've tried parrafin, thinners and a bearing scraper. Has anybody had good results with one of those aerosol cans of gasket remover? I'm hoping they don't eat into the aluminium too...

All thoughts welcome!

Many thanks,
 
Thanks Chaps,
pommie john said:
I use paint stripper to clean gasket surfaces and to get carbon out of the ports.
Click to expand...

John, How is life in Brizzy? I lived in Melbourne for 12 years, but came home as someone has to look after the Old Country :mrgreen:

What type of paint stripper did you use?
 
You might try ATF, it seems to attack almost anything. You probably have some lurking around too. There was the guy that soaked his rusted head and pistons in it and it seemed to wipe pretty clean, carbon and all.

Dave
69S
 
If its that freaking tough then I just use a long enough file to straddle two surfaces to stay level and knock it down flat enough to seal with a gasket and Hylomar.
Boiled carbon deposits tend to turn to grey powder that just rubs off. The best solvent is brake fluid.
 
crusadersports said:
Thanks Chaps,
pommie john said:
I use paint stripper to clean gasket surfaces and to get carbon out of the ports.
Click to expand...

John, How is life in Brizzy? I lived in Melbourne for 12 years, but came home as someone has to look after the Old Country :mrgreen:

What type of paint stripper did you use?
Click to expand...


I used the normal Nitromors stuff. Paint on, wash off with water, don't get it in your eyes, on your skin etc.

We must have swapped places, I used to live in Rochester! I hung out at the Ale bar in the high street, went to the Halfway cafe at the weekends and Brands Hatch was so close...happy times.
Life here is good, but I do miss so much of England, not least my mates. You have to be careful when you meet an Aussie girl in a pub....
 
Flat sanding block with P240, will remove all traces of old gasket and leave a good surface for reassembly.
 
BrianK said:
Brass-bristled wire wheel in a Dremel would be my choice.
Click to expand...

NO!!! don't put a wire brush, 3m scotchbrite pads, ect, anywere near it . Paint or gasket stripper and a good sharp wood chisel, you need to remove all traces of the gasket before trying to sand clean
 
The Bedford Van ended up with a opaque side window with a big B on its side on it .
The soft mounts let the fan go through the radiator brakeing down a steep hill. was
about 60 thou warp in it , an hour or two with coase grinding paste on the nearest
piece of flat glass go it almost flat . When theres on little hollow left on a IRON head
youve got to know when enoughs enough.

They say ' plate glass ' .

Either a sheet of wet and dry on it , or the grinding paste . Figure eight motion
so as not to go lopsided . Wash off thoroughly .

Coper Cote or Koper Kote , is Copper Graphite PRESSURE SEALING , Anti Sieze
Grease . The Triple D Triumphs used it at Bonneville to stop the Super charger
forceing the copper head gaskets out.
After Id been donated most of a Gallon Can , I used it on 2 litre Ford Gaskets .
Strip engine , wipe and wash gaskets , and reinstall . You CAN have it Both Ways . :mrgreen:

Takes about 20 washes to remove from T-Shirts though , and a few days from hands .
 
You gotta be careful with that wood chisel too, a sharp corner can really dig in. As a kid, scraping gaskets was one of my main jobs in my Dad's garage. Cj
 
splatt said:
BrianK said:
Brass-bristled wire wheel in a Dremel would be my choice.
Click to expand...

NO!!! don't put a wire brush, 3m scotchbrite pads, ect, anywere near it . Paint or gasket stripper and a good sharp wood chisel, you need to remove all traces of the gasket before trying to sand clean
Click to expand...

I'm not picking on anybody here, but I am trying to seek some reality. A while back I had somebody reply to one of my posts not to use sandpaper on my engine (presumably because the grit that comes of the paper will destroy stuff). We have seen the warnings about 3M Scotchbrite pads, and now wire wheels are added to the list. Will we next be warned not to use vavle grinding paste? The paste is aluminum oxide in a lubricant base. In other words the same stuff that will fall off the sand paper. If you send it to the machine shop to have it milled, there will be litle pieces of metal to worry about.

Anybody ever do a thorough job of cleaning your parts before assembly? Sorry, just had to ask. End of rant. I would pull the studs and use the sandpaper on glass as mentioned above. With the knowledge that any particles of grit need to be cleaned off!

Whatever method you select has to leave a flat surface!
Russ
 
That silver gasket residue is quite soft, I usually just scrape it off with a nice new Stanley knife blade and wipe clean with a bit of solvent, pulling studs and lapping is a bit excessive if the head is flat. I'm assuming the head isn't off because it's warped.
 
Rich_j said:
That silver gasket residue is quite soft, I usually just scrape it off with a nice new Stanley knife blade and wipe clean with a bit of solvent, pulling studs and lapping is a bit excessive if the head is flat. I'm assuming the head isn't off because it's warped.
Click to expand...

It probably is excessive, but it leaves little doubt. As for my previous rant, I am sure that the wire brush and 3M pad comment were probably due to concern over leaving hollows in the mating surface more than contamination, so I will just apologize in advance. As usual when one gets on a rant (me in this case) it is often not even on topic!

Russ
 
About the worse thing of a poor sealing head-gasket surface is the hot gas jets cutting grooves on its way into push rod tunnels, as you will hear/see it jet out the weak spot past the oil drain hole. When Peel's Combat head lost to world for over a year I had to buy a standard head just to run in and found grooves leading to each tunnel, so put JBWeld in there and razored and flied flat and went on to hunt down sports bikes and tear up drive train and trash tires in short order but the JBW held up clamped in the space. It did get crumblely after reving so much the head lifted the stretched bolts but no biggie just reapply and do it some more.

Highest head-plug area temp I could get on Peel was 425'F- which is not possible until engine loaded to top out max and held there most a minute, but Hylomar is rated to 600' F so am trying Hylomar on both sides of copper gasket to see what happens.
 
Thanks everyone for your input. I think I'll try the paint stripper suggestion (thanks Pommie John) just because it won't scratch the joint face. This is the first time this engine's been apart so I want to get it back together good as new.

Pommie John (I'm gonna call you John from now on), I actually live in Rochester- at the bottom of Rochester Maidstone Rd. All is well at Brands- I was there 3 times last year. Alot of building shave gone up in the last few years, but still a great circuit to relax and watch the old boys fighting with the controls! And the Man of Kent still sells a mean pint of 1066 old ale. None of that awful cold alcoholic lemonade! I met an Aussie girl too and we're getting married in 5 weeks- but I said I wasn't leaving the dear Old Country- and she still said yes! Now that's lucky.

Sorry getting off the point here a tad... :mrgreen:

Thanks again to everyone
 
DogT said:
You might try ATF, it seems to attack almost anything. You probably have some lurking around too. There was the guy that soaked his rusted head and pistons in it and it seemed to wipe pretty clean, carbon and all.

Dave
69S
Click to expand...

Dave, I meant to say thanks for the suggestion about ATF and I'll bare it in mind if the Nitromoors doesn't shift it. I've been enjoying your thread about the Pheonix. Wanted to say I thought yours sounded well crisp- sweet as a nut and good on you for all the work- you've got one pretty Norton there- a journey of (re)- discovery for you both. It's been great to read your thoughts and impressions as much as it has been to see the progress you've made. Good luck with the old girl :D
 
Congrads on your tying the knot! May you both have many years of happy wild mind blowing sex, love and joy!! And no you can't take for granted that people do a good job of cleaning things. My pal who builds Indians was once tasked with rebuilding a motor that some guy brought in after only putting 100 miles on it from a "complete" restoration from a bone head who bead blasted everything but did not clean it well enough. When drained the oil was full of sand! The motor was toast and what was funny is the guy had photographed the assembly and you can clearly see sand or glass bead on parts in the pictures. Some people are just dumb.
 
Thanks heaps gtsun :D

Didn't really mean to announce my wedding with a post about head gaskets but what the hell :mrgreen:

The Norton's been off the road since we met (about 2 and a half years ago), and while she's in Aus (I'm flying out there for the wedding,then we're both coming back), I'm desperatley trying to get the Norton going again as I have this strange impression that funds for motorbikes might just possibly be a wee bit limited once the knot is tied.

But I've introduced the subject by rushing the car into corners abit sharpish by saying 'Sorry dear, I thought I was on the Norton'.... :mrgreen:

OOOOH dear, we'll have to call the Indian 'Sand cast' then.....
 
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