One step forward and two steps back

[Alec]

Hello Binny,

stud extractors do that easily (Not broken stud extractors, they are different). If you don't have any two nuts screwed onto the stud, tighten one nut very tightly against the other then unscrew the stud using the lower of the two nuts. (make sure the upper nut is a full thread onto the stud)
Countersinking screwed holes is good practice.

Alec

PS, you had the head thickness reduced, look to ensure that there is thread below the top face of the head and the nuts are not bottoming out on the studs, when that happens no real force will be applied to the gasket. Washers also come in different thicknesses (Form A, B etc), the thicker the washer the better. Engineering suppliers stock the various forms of washers.

[Binny]

Hi Alec,

The studs actually came out quite easily using the two nut method thanks and I’d already checked that the nuts weren’t bottoming out on the stud

With the studs out of the way I was able to relieve the high spots on the block face around each stud hole using a piece of glass and thousand grade wet and dry. I then checked across the whole block for any slight variations in height using a 2 thousands of an inch feeler blade trapped under a straight edge. Once satisfied that all was flat I refitted the cylinder head without a gasket and tried inserting the 2 thou feeler blade between the head and block but couldn’t so I’m hoping it’s sorted now.

I’ll still look at counter sinking the threaded stud holes although I can’t decide which is the best way of doing this as a quick test on cylinder head using a counter sink tool in a die grinder resulted in the creation of a slight ‘ripple’ around the hole which then had to be flatted using the glass and thousand grade.

I’ll also contact Rimmers to check that the numbers embossed on the gasket they sent me confirm that it is correct for a non recessed block before deciding to buy a non-Payen gasket.

[Alec]

Hello Binny,

a die grinder is too fast really for a countersink, they can chatter a bit but is not normally a problem, a firm pressure helps stop that even with a hand held drill.
Hopefully all is sorted now?

Alec

[Charles H]

The head gasket is easily identified. The recessed block gasket has a tab at the rear, non recessed does not.

[Binny]

Hi Alec and Charles,

I ended up using an electric drill on low speed to counter sink the block stud holes and it seemed to do the job.

Thanks for the tip on identifying a recessed head gasket - the one I have doesn’t have a tab so should be fine.

[Binny]

A further update.

Head back on with a standard gasket and all appears well with no leaks.

However with the engine running it was clearly not quite as smooth as it should be. All the injectors were pulled with the engine running and a nice even spray was observed so no issues there. I then pulled each plug lead off which revealed that No1 cylinder was not firing. Plug removed and it was clear that it hadn’t been firing since I’d got the car running after its twenty five year slumber. It was a brand new AC Delco plug, albeit a long time ago, and once replaced with the Champion plugs I’d taken out (why do I keep old plugs?) it ran perfectly.

Happy days.