Just back from the menders and....

Took the manifolds off last night - multiple oil leaks from the head on the manifold side - so the gasket is gone. Also - 3 manifold/exhaust studs missing. The exhaust manifold was held on mostly by pixie dust.
The monkeys have struck again. The last gasket change was by the people who took 10 weeks to change the injector pump, and left most of the tappets set at 5mm. Grrrrrrrr.
Oh, and Famous Four want £56 to post them to me - WTF?
:mad2:

Head off today, found some more monkey work. Looks like they didn't remove all the old gasket when renewing the head gasket in June. They also stripped the threads off one of the smaller head bolts, oh and didn't tighten all the big ones to the same torque. Great job, not a bloody wonder it leaked. Every push rod was bent too, some into a nice S shape. Parts ordered, looking forward to getting her running again. On the positive side, the head wasn't warped.

A couple of piccys. Something has been happening to the head in cylinder 4 - all the others looked good. Any opinions? I'm thinking oxidisation due to water, but it's a pure punt. All the valves etc seemed to be moving freely.

zeaphod said:

A couple of piccys. Something has been happening to the head in cylinder 4 - all the others looked good. Any opinions? I'm thinking oxidisation due to water, but it's a pure punt. All the valves etc seemed to be moving freely.
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got a water leak either head gasket or cracked head, Probably HG

Yup, looks rusty to me. I too suspect water's getting in. Bit of precision work with a wire brush needed. What sort of state are the valve seats in? if they're rusty too maybe it could do with a bit of lapping in as well.

Could also be a warped head. Mine leaked internally when warped.

I'd be taking the garage up for the issues, document them and go to trading standards

Thanks guys. The gasket was definitely gone, visible oil leaks at the front end, and gas into the coolant. No sign of warping, measured with a high quality straight edge at lots of angles, right across the head. The smaller pillar bolt above cylinder number 4 had been stripped of its threads.
It's months since the monkeys had a go at her, I'm not going down the official route, just telling everyone I know to avoid them. They had a couple of series rebuilds on the go the last time I was in, god help the owners.

All ready to put her back together, with my lovely shiny new head/tappet bolts - and they aren't right. The thread on the old one is different. Luckily, the thread on the new bolt went, rather than on the head. The new ones are metric M8, the old ones are god knows.
I now think this is a late series III head. Given that my last 88" series was made in 84, and this 90" was made in 85, it's quite possible the mix up was done in the factory - or any time since. Another week off the road. Series III parts ordered.

I should add here for fairness, that Famous Four held their hands up when I queried the postage - a simple typo meant one of the bolts appeared to be 3 metres long. Their service has been excellent.

a 3 metre bolt lol bloody right they should hold their hands up

zeaphod said:

A couple of piccys. Something has been happening to the head in cylinder 4 - all the others looked good. Any opinions? I'm thinking oxidisation due to water, but it's a pure punt. All the valves etc seemed to be moving freely.
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no 1 and 4 both look to be cracked between the valves ,it is water damage

jamesmartin said:

no 1 and 4 both look to be cracked between the valves ,it is water damage

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yep - crack on 4, at least.

Agreed...crack on number 4 !!

OK guys. I guess it means the head is toast. Is it usable at all with the cracks, while I try and find a replacement?

Oh and as this appears to be a Series III head, will another 2.25 Diesel head be OK?
Would a 2.25 petrol head work? I ran this for about 15K before the problems started.

petrol head wont work ,cracking between valves is very common,dont use it for long if you have to use it at all, either fits but all 2.5s are metric not all 2.25s are ,not necessarily an issue if you have the right bolts etc

Thanks for the reply James, I thought the valves on the petrol might be different.
I've already found out the hard way that the current head is non metric !
So, if I can find a 2.25 diesel head, and have all the studs etc, you reckon I can make her go again? The chances of finding a 2.5d head over here are zero.

petrol heads totally different ,head bolts are the same but other studs on head plus banjo for oil feed will be imperial if pre 1980

Yup, that's exactly what I have found. Not too much of a problem, as the imperial stuff is still available. I do now have a set of spare metric studs.....
Would you, or anyone else know if Withams will deliver/send stuff, or is it collections only?
They have an entire 2.5d going cheap.