Help with head gasket!

[eg2]

Doing a head gasket in the missus corsa and I'm unsure how clean the surfaces have to be before I bolt it back together (first time I've done one)

originally it looked like this:


Now it looks like this:


I know it looks a bit rough round the water jacket but it feels smooth, no raised areas at all - is it clean enough to bolt the head back on to?

[eg2]

Likewise, the head has gone from this:


to this:

[Good Scrap]

I usually use a clean flat oil stone and some wd40 to lightly check for any raised deposits, ALS remove the hollow dowel for cleaning, put a close fitting drill or bolt in it and grip with mole grips to pull it out, clean the face then re-fit.

After that clean everything with brake cleaner or similar then put it back together. To be honest it looks pretty good as you have it.

Areas that matter are where the fire rings seat around the top of the cylinders and any oil or water passages, offer the gaskit up and see where it need so seal around these features.

Brian

[froggy]

Before going any further bolt the cams in and see if they turn without the head being torqued down . 8 times out of ten the head will be bowed and only fit for the bin

[eg2]

Have checked the head with a straight edge and its fine

[froggy]

Have you laid the cams in the head to see if they rock ? . I don't know what sort of straight edge your using but I've done a lot of these . You could well be lucky but I'd try the cams to be sure

[eg2]

how much rocking am I looking for?

[froggy]

If they rock at all the head is scrap . Bolt them back in and if you can't turn them by the pulleys the heads bent

[eg2]

I havent taken the cams out. one turns, the other doesn't?


Edit, scratch that, they both turn

[froggy]

Exhaust side by any chance

[eg2]

yeah exhaust side, thought it was stuck but it did turn (although a bit like it was spring loaded) now I tried it with the head on a flat surface

[froggy]

As long as they turn freely it's all good but I'd advise getting the head re faced as the surface finish is critical especially given how thin the gasket is on these engines

[gavs1]

I'd wanna get that head skimmed and pressure tested beforehand

[bortaf]

If you are changing the H/G cos the old one blew i'd be getting the head checked over personly, the are not the best either in strength or material used, having said that your waterways are mint compaired to most alloy vaux head i see

[usedabused]

I would never ever replace an alloy head without stripping skimming and well fully rebuilding it to be fair,

These little three pots are so cheep to buy its often cheaper to replace the engine completely,have you done the chains as well?

[taurus]

Lots of good advice here. A favourite trick of these is to blow the timing cover gasket seal behind the water pump, oil & coolant mix and it looks like the HG has gone. Every time I've done one (for the above reason or because the HG really has gone) I've always had the head skimmed.

Some folks say you can't skim them due to the timing cover bolts not lining up - you can, just not too much, unless you then look at a thicker gasket set.

If it's the older pre-twinport engine they're very cheap, but twinports are about twice the price at the moment.

If you do the chains use a proper kit, a lot of the aftermarket ones don't last five minutes.

[eg2]

Head has had a light skim and is back on, timing cover bolts are fine all has gone back together well, but now I'm struggling to lock the crank so I can tighten the crank pulley bolt,-

the kit of tools I bought didn't include all of them for some reason and apparently I need a KM-956-1, which no dealers can get me for a week and they want a fortune for it - tried car in 5th with the wife on the brake pedal but no joy, have popped starter out and tried to wedge something in flywheel teeth but its proving difficult... any suggestions?

[taurus]

The timing kit usually has a big locking tool that goes through a port in the front lower crankcase, that locks the crankshaft no problem. You can improvise with anything roughly the same diameter - from memory the Haynes suggests using one of those clutch aligning tools that has changeable collars.

Just dug it out - the end needs to be 12mm and the bit that sits in the hole in the crankcase is 17.5mm

I don't think it is KM 956-1 that you need, the Haynes reads it as KM-952 for the X10XE (depends which version of the 3 pot yours is - but I think they're all the same tool anyway)

The universal clutch tool is probably your cheapest bet. Shame you're so far away or you could have borrowed my kit for the job.