• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

cracked head ???

Share this page

M

mtlman8

Jedi Trainee
Country flag
Offline
So I pulled the head ... gasket was shot... good news to me...my question is this, I found a small crack between cylinders 2 and 3 between the two water jackets, and by the look of the crack it seems to be a flaw in the casting... has anybody else ever seen or heard of this? I can post some pics tomorrow if need be. any input helps. thanx .btw its a 67 tr4a.
 
Crack in the head or the block?
 
A dye penetrate kit would tell you for sure! you can get one here
Easy to use: clean area with supplied cleaner wipe dry, spray on crack finder ink/dye, let sit for a few minutes, wipe dye/ink off [do not use cleaner for this part of test] spray on developer, let dry
if you see a colored [ usualy red] line in the developer .... you have a crack! otherwise ... you are good !

I am sure there are other sources also.
If you are hesitant to attempt this simple test yourself take the part in question to your local machine shop and have them magnaflux it.
 
If I'm understanding you correctly, that is a common place for them to crack. It doesn't hurt anything (since there is coolant on both sides of the crack), so most people just leave it alone.
 
Of course, you still need to find out what caused the problem with the gasket. Check the head for flatness; make sure the liner protrusion is within range on BOTH sides, head studs aren't stretched, etc.
 
I think the probelem may have been that the car sat for 26 years with coolant in it. as for the crack in the head, it seens like it would not be an issue where it is, because of coolant running through both sides. the head and the block are flat to within .002. there was one head nut missing and 3 more studs were slightly loose.not to get to "redneck" but I thought about grinding it out or slightly beveling it and filling with epoxy (pc7) or somthing close.whats your opinion one this idea?
 
mtlman8 said:
I thought about grinding it out or slightly beveling it and filling with epoxy (pc7) or somthing close.whats your opinion one this idea?
Click to expand...
Waste of time, IMO. Just put it back cracked, it will be fine (if everything else is good, of course).

Odd place for freeze damage though; more likely the coolant got low at some point in the engine's past and the head cracked from thermal stress.
 
Back
Top