Twincam Head Gasket(s) Follow On

Gents,
Thanks for the advice. Well I fitted the head and gaskets tonight and all seemed fine. Anyway applied a 1mm bead of RTV silicone to the cork gasket and ended up with small silicone beads at the gasket joint both inside and out. Problem is…should I try and get them or leave them? They seem very well stuck as far as I can tell. I guess if they fall off the oil filter will catch them as they are not so big as too get through that. However, I was wondering where the chain and sprockets get their oil lubrication from. Is it splash from the sump? or a pressure drilling?. If splash, then if they do come loose I suppose it will end up in the sump and filter. Anythoughts anyone.

thanks
MArk

ps does look nice with the head on, timing it up Friday!! *8)

The timing chain & sprockets are pressure lubricated via a small hole in the front timing chain backplate, obviously oil mist and splash also play a part in the lubrication.
I prefer to remove any excess sealer from both the inside and outside as I think it looks “unprofessional” to have sealer all over the place, thats aside from the reputed dangers of having sealer floating around inside the engine. I say “reputed” because I have seen engines with lots of sealer inside the sumps and it never caused a problem…although I’m not saying it will not.
Twin cams have a reputation for leaking oil but in my experience bad assembly accounts for the majority of oil leaks.
Brian.

By all means remove the excess sealant. While true, the oil filter will collect it, where do you suppose it travels on it’s way to the filter? (And do you REALLY want that stuff in your filter anyway?)

Regards,
-John
'69 Lotue Elan S4 45/8290
'74 1/2 Jensen Healey #18918

RTV + oil/gas = :frowning:

I agree w/ the others… remove excess RTV. You don’t want it floating around inside the engine. Just not possible to control where it goes and what it might clog (with my luck something EXPENSIVE would happen!)

What about Hylomar? Doesn’t anyone use Hylomar any longer? It’s been a staple in my toolbox and about the only sealant I use on my Twinks.

Kiyoshi

There are a ton of silicone and anerobic adhesives to choose from at the parts store. So many I spent an hour reading the packages before deciding which to purchase. Have been using this stuff for years. Not a single particle has ever been dislodged and gotten stuck in the wire mesh screen of the oil pickup tube. If you try to remove it though I’m pretty sure you will gernerate loose debris. Leave it alone.

There is an all new technology of sealing engines these days which has for the most part eliminated gaskets. Suggest doing some homework here folks.
-Keith

Gents,
Thanks for the feedback. The stuff is coming out. Better safe than sorry. If it had all been “well stuck down” then laving it may have been an option. However, some is loose"ish"

Cheers
Merry Xmas
Mark

ps any members live near Chester UK?

If you have just replaced the head, don’t you have to take the cam cover off again to check the torque on the head bolts after a few 100 miles??