• 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

Head cleaning

Share this page

Darrell_Walker

Darrell_Walker

Jedi Knight
Offline
I spent an hour or so cleaning parts in my improvised parts washer (tub with a gallon of kerosene and a brush). Made a big dent in the crud on my heads, but they still need more work. My planned next step is to use spray carb cleaner, but that might still take several cans. Then I got to thinking (which sometimes gets me in trouble) that maybe my pressure washer could blast them a bit cleaner. Is that a bad idea? Or should I be outsourcing this, is there a magic vat of stuff at the machine shop that they would just soak them in (these are aluminum heads)?
 
The engine shop did mine in their tank. Came back looking like new. Reassuring to know that the inside was as clean as the outside.
 
Darrell, the short answer is yes there is a good solution. Go to Home Depot or similar store and get a 5 gal can of Paint Thinner. That's basically what is used in parts washers. Soak them in that overnight then brush well with a parts brush. After trying many different water based products that's what I did and it worked very well in my parts washer. Cuts grease and oil well. Wear solvent resistant gloves as it will not be good to exposed skin.

Power wash after with hot water if possible and then use your air compressor and blow them dry getting all of the water out of any trapped area to prevent rusting of steel parts, assuming the heads are assembled. Oil the guides well afterwards too.
JVV
 
Thanks, Jerry. That is kind of what I was doing with the kerosene, but I don't really have enough to soak them. I should have mentioned that I do have the valves in, and I don't think the heads will need any additional work. But perhaps I will outsource this, mostly because I don't want to store 5 gallons of paint thinner (the gallon of kerosene is one I've been keeping for years, using from time to time for parts cleaning).
 
Darrell,
Spend a few buck (well spent) to have a local shop knock out the freeze plugs and cook the head(s) in an acid dip tank and get them really clean.
 
I also got my head back from the machine shop today. All cleaned up. Valves were all checked and fine, and they surfaced the head as there was a little wear from the head gasket (took off 0.005"). They were not warped.

As part of replacing the head gaskets on my TR8, I'm changing out the water pump. I think was hearing it start to fail, so figured it was a good time.

Anyway, I understand that the long bolts need sealant on them, because they go into the water jacket. As I was cleaning up bolts today, I noticed that those bolts also appear to have been painted. I'm pretty sure it is paint and not a black finish, as it came off easily with the wire brush. Should I repaint
them?

I'm still waiting on a few shipments of parts, but should be able to get started on reassembly by the weekend.
 
DNK said:
naw!...
Where was the paint?
Click to expand...

Along the threaded part of the bolt shaft (at least there there wasn't rust).

Someone on the TR8 list said it was just the sealant, but it sure looked like paint. It was black.
 
It sure didn't look like any sealant I'm familiar with, but who knows what that 3M stuff was like (or what it would look like after 30 years). So should I be putting the sealant the entire length of the bolt?
 
Just a bit of the threads is all I did.
What are you gonna use?
 
FYI, I just got my new water pump from Woody, and it has the proper bypass hole, no need to drill it. I don't know if this is something Woody does, or if they are now being made correctly. It wouldn't have been a big deal to drill it, but nice that I don't have to! There is a noticeable difference in the smoothness (and sound) of the new pump, so even though the old one seemed OK by itself, the new one is clearly better. I'm glad I went ahead and got the new one. Also got a box from TRF earlier this week, and one from Wedge Parts today. I now have all the parts I need to start putting it together.
 
What are you waiting for typing all this drivel.
Get started man!
 
DNK said:
What are you waiting for typing all this drivel.
Get started man!
Click to expand...

Still need to do some parts cleaning, and spending the last day at home with my son before fall term starts at UW (taking him up tomorrow). But might need a "mental heath" day off work on Friday!
 
When using the shim steel head gasket, should I use any sealant on it (like a spray on copper sealer)?
 
Back
Top