mk1 head gasket

[willjan]

Just had the latest edition of TSSC magazine,being a member,and was interested in Mark Blease having just blown a head gasket on his mk1,between 5 and 6,as was the case with Cecil.
He mentions a composite gasket for the head,i had not heard of these .Have any of our owners.
Also the point was raised about the perils of using a mk1 engine for towing.

I just wondered if we agree with this.
or are we perpetuating a bit of a myth
Imight regret this but I like the mk1 engine,because it is different

Bill.

[pete lewis]

new on here but old at 3/ 8"stud problems,
the main failure reason is deformation of the soft washers,
HD nuts and washers are needed to maintain the 46lbft , bet the washer face is deformed ,
the torque is lost and the .gasket has no grip.
hd nuts available from canley and others.

have used upturned 3/8 wheel nuts as a fix as these have much wider face and are cheap.

remove the studs and with a hard flat block and fine wet and dry , add some oil and
clean the block and head faces to remove all dull crud.
fit studs with slotted thread in the block , this stops hydraulic pressure from debris
in the thread hole blowing the casting
just a thought

Pete

[johnnydog]

Also the point was raised about the perils of using a mk1 engine for towing.

I would have to question that point just from personal experience. In the 1980's, when my 1969 Mk1 2000 was my everyday car, I regularly towed a reasonably heavy caravan with all the family belongings on various holidays in the UK, and also did a long caravan trip to the south of France with no problems at all. The only difference to modern times would be the fact that I used 'full fat' (leaded) fuel. We didn't realise how lucky we were back then........

[willjan]

I was not saying that I had any doubts about the engine myself.When the head on Cecil was removed I formed the impression that it had not been off before,thats 49 yrs Not bad for a suspect engine.
When I replaced the gasket with new old stock item,i also replaced the studs and nuts and washers,bought from CW
This was undertaken with some advice from various members having more experience with this engine than I have.
Sometimes I think myths arrive from past mid car life,bad practice.
We shall see

Bill.

[Mike Stevens]

In 40 years of big saloon driving, I've only ever had one head gasket go - and that was in a Mk1!

(I do hope I'm not going to regret saying that!)

That gasket also went between 5 and 6 and caused some pinking more that any other effect. We were in the Lake District at the time and we knew well the vicar of Conistan who was a keen car chap. So we went and got the relevant bits from the local garage (!) and repaired it one day in the vicarage garage. John (the vicar) was a great help and blessed the car when we'd finished. He said this was important after all the things he'd been saying about it earlier!

I have also done lots of towing with both M1s and Mk2. The above gasket failure was when driving solo though!

Cheers,
Mike.

[Andy Thompson]

I did a lot of towing with a 66 Mk1 - to the point of having to stop in the welsh hills north of Cardiff to let the oil cool down as the big ends were rattling a bit. I guess towing another Mk1 with a spare engine in the boot on a large car trailer was a bit much to ask of it - never had any headgasket issues though.

I think some very wise words are in this thread - especially the hardened washers bit. I know that some historic racers had issues back in the 80's and 90's. There were a variety of cures - mk2 size studs, modified mk2 gaskets. Andy Elcomb who was very successful in a Mk1, used uprated Cooper S nuts and washers in 3/8" with a lot of success.

Maybe something from ARP would a good mod - they have very high quality hardened fasteners

http://www.tsimportedautomotive.com/arp.html. - you can get ARP nuts and hardened washers individually here

[TedTaylor]

Sorry this is a late reply - just realised there was something that I had not got round to putting down when I came to do the Forum Notes.

I too would question that a Mk1 engine was unsuitable for towing.
I was once towing a very well laden trailer with all the stuff for a stand at the NEC (including a wooden shed – don’t ask) with my early Mk1 saloon when the water pump belt broke when I was stuck in a traffic jam near London Airport. The first I noticed was the rise in temperature and heavy pinking and because of the jam it took a little while to find a place to stop – right beside and old motor factor…… By the time we had sorted out a new belt the engine had cooled down well (steam and hot oil had been weeping from between block, head and gasket) and after fitting the belt and topping up with water I went on my way – and used the engine as it was (and still is) for another 5,000 miles!
Also like Andy, in the eary 1990s I had previously used the same car to tow a Mk1 Cortina over 120 miles from the Forest of Dean to Hertfordshire ….. in the days when this was legal!

MUT