Boredom came to a head

[Stewart]

Had to much freetime this afternoon so I decided to pull the head and see what lies beneith and of course leads to more head scratching and questions. The only good I saw was the bores looked pretty good with very little scoreing and visable cross hatching. also I couldn't catch a ridge with my finger nail. However there was some rust top of the middle 2 cyclinders.

Can anyone ID the piston.

 

[tony barnhill]

Running rich with a small head crack in #2?

 

[Stewart]

your guess is as good as mine actualy most likely better. I only found 3 valve stem seals so I'm sure that added to the mix. The orange gack in the intake of 2,3 is interesting.

Any idea on the ID25? Trying to figure out if it's the orginal piston or something else.

 

[Bruce74B]

Running rich with a small head crack in #2?

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif but it looks pretty good overall. It is possible that the head was recently retorqued and squeezed some residue into number 2? The oramge gunk is interesting and note what appears to be a slight gap around the side of number 2. Judging by the overall good condition of the head, I would bet that it originated more recently than not, probably through the spark plug during some recent work. If is was my B, I would think that some of the blaze paint from the coalcraker paint job got in there somehow...he seem to get overspray everywhere else in my car /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

As for the question of orginallity, I would bet that those pistons are not original...they are in too good a shape to be 30 years old. Clean 'er up, put in a new gasket and torque her carefully and it'll run along fine for a long while I think.

Bruce

 

[tony barnhill]

& remember: some 'cracks' aren't.....you've gotta check to see if its just a casting crack which is no big deal.

 

[jlaird]

I think I would have it leveled, checking the crack, new valve guides, valves ground, and button it up.

Then I would adjust the carbs properly.

Dosn't look to bad really.

 

[Stewart]

well dropped the head off to be checked. In less than 2 hours I should have a verdict. I'm thinking 80/20 cracked.

 

[jlaird]

Oh Boy, standing by.

 

[Stewart]

Survey says

It's cracked bad and in multiple places and its all on the external side of the head. One crack runs from #2 spark plug up through the top of the exhaust valve to the middle of the head. Crack number 2 is between 2 and 3 going to the middle of the head and #3 goes from the #2 spark plug to the middle of the head. Once it was cleaned up the combustion chambers and valve seats looked really nice. To bad.

 

[jlaird]

Boy, nice looking anchor. Too bad about the head.

 

[tony barnhill]

Hate that - hate I guessed!

 

[DrEntropy]

Fairly common issue with those heads. That doesn't make it any easier, tho. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

 

[jlaird]

Guess Tony, heck you could see the crack in the photos.

 

[tony barnhill]

When I saw the one, Doc, I never figured it'd be that bad!

 

[Stewart]

The 3rd crack going to the #3 spark plug is still small enough that I can only pick it out while it was being magnafluxed.

 

[Nunyas]

looks more like a "fault line" to me... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif

 

[Stewart]

Maybe the "big one" happend on this head and socal is now safe /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

 

[Nunyas]

SoCal is never "safe", IMO :jaster:

 

[wdp]

I was once told that there are two types of B heads, ones that are cracked and ones that are going to crack! Of course the guy who told me that sells aluminium heads!

 

[PAUL161]

Boy, nice looking anchor. Too bad about the head.

Jack, is that an anchor or a new style MG braking system?