Head Sealing & O-Ringing

[BigKriss]

Simply spraying the copper gasket with a high solid silver spray paint can will suffice. Spray it on rather thick and use soon after, not when its hard and cured for days..

We have a moly spray I use on turbo fasteners which also is good to use for sealing the gaskets. Spray it on and use..

Carlos, remeber to anneal the gasket before use bud. I fire up the webber bbq and while the coals are settling I plonk the copper gasket on the grill. It will change colour very quick indicating that its ready. I simply leave it on until the next day..

My new motor is getting 12mm studs into the block. Will be able to torque these up to around 75 Nm.

 

[XR8tt]

It's all in the machining to have correct amount of wire protruding...
Yep thin Viton O rings around oil, water passages...
With 3m sealant applied by rubbing on with finger in rotation motion so it sort of rolls on very thin...

 

[cribbj]

Brings up the question of how can someone (who doesn't have an end mill or a CNC machine) cut o-ring grooves in anything (not just this application, but in general).

I've searched for o-ring cutters without much luck - you'd think they'd be pretty common, especially for use with drill presses, etc. but all I've found are ball nose cutters and other items for end mills.

I'd think a tool that resembled a hole saw, but with a carbide or diamond edge, instead of teeth would be just the thing. It would need a mandrel or something similar to keep it centered, though.....

 

[XR8tt]

Mine was done on overhead milling machine..
The grove from memory was basically cut by turning cutter by hand..
They marked head with cutter first to check alignment..
So O ring doen't intersect other cylinders..

 

[CarlosR347]

Simply spraying the copper gasket with a high solid silver spray paint can will suffice. Spray it on rather thick and use soon after, not when its hard and cured for days..

We have a moly spray I use on turbo fasteners which also is good to use for sealing the gaskets. Spray it on and use..

Carlos, remeber to anneal the gasket before use bud. I fire up the webber bbq and while the coals are settling I plonk the copper gasket on the grill. It will change colour very quick indicating that its ready. I simply leave it on until the next day..

My new motor is getting 12mm studs into the block. Will be able to torque these up to around 75 Nm.

Awesome would you happen to know any specific brands you may have used so I can search em up? And wow Thx for the heads up I thought they came ready to use, exactly what annealing process do the cometic MLS hg require???

 

[cribbj]

Carlos, annealing is only for copper head gaskets, not the MLS type.

 

[BigKriss]

John, about 15 years ago I bought an "o" ringing device from ......uhmmm...yea, cannot remember from whom now, but it was a self centering manually operated device that centered itself within the bore. It then had adjustable carbide cutters or tips that could then cut a "v" groove into the top of a sleeve or block. It had two "bunny ears" handles on it for manual operation.
The centering mech. was very much the same as the Bluepoint hones from Snap-On..Oh, yea, it was from our local Snap-On rep ..... It worked well but the depth of the cut was operator dependent.All in I rate the tool about an 8/10 for ease of use and functionality.

I think there is a pic of one being used in a performance book-Peterson`s I think about Smokey Yunick and power secrets...

 

[cribbj]

Thanks Kriss, now that I know manual models exist, I'll search the Snap-On catalogs, etc. a little harder. Over the years I guess I've had 4-5 occasions when I wanted to o-ring something and couldn't for lack of tooling.

 

[CarlosR347]

John, about 15 years ago I bought an "o" ringing device from ......uhmmm...yea, cannot remember from whom now, but it was a self centering manually operated device that centered itself within the bore. It then had adjustable carbide cutters or tips that could then cut a "v" groove into the top of a sleeve or block. It had two "bunny ears" handles on it for manual operation.
The centering mech. was very much the same as the Bluepoint hones from Snap-On..Oh, yea, it was from our local Snap-On rep ..... It worked well but the depth of the cut was operator dependent.All in I rate the tool about an 8/10 for ease of use and functionality.

I think there is a pic of one being used in a performance book-Peterson`s I think about Smokey Yunick and power secrets...

Im sure you can fab up one of these lol, I was actually making some drawings the other day on something like what you just described, if the depth of the groove is too critical you can always just make a stop that wont allow the carbide bit to continue any deeper.. I think it can be done

 

[CarlosR347]

Hey guys have you ever had any issues with galvanic corrosion when using copper HG? I feel I could run into the same issue if i spray copper sealant on the MLS? Galvanic corrosion is when two dissimilar metals (copper spray/Aluminum block and head) come in contact in the presence of an electrolyte (water/coolant):nutkick: and causes the anodic metal (Aluminum) to corrode

I did my research and i used to think that the silver spray was a special spray but people actually spray paint theyre gaskets cause the paint actually contains microscopic aluminum flakes and fills in imperfections, but I hear the copper spray sold at Autozone and such stays tacky and softer, and since copper is softer than aluminum i figure it will seal better..

Idk any suggestions at this point?

 

[CarlosR347]

oh guys this took me like 8 seconds to find on google lol


http://www.bhjproducts.com/bhj_content/products/blocktooling/org.php

 

[cribbj]

Carlos, I had seen that tool also, but I believe it's for cutting very specific size o-rings on specific heads.

I was looking for a more generic tool that would have interchangeable cutter heads to cut any size of o-ring grooves, not just the SS o-rings we're discussing here, which are a pretty special case.

 

[CarlosR347]

Carlos, I had seen that tool also, but I believe it's for cutting very specific size o-rings on specific heads.

I was looking for a more generic tool that would have interchangeable cutter heads to cut any size of o-ring grooves, not just the SS o-rings we're discussing here, which are a pretty special case.

I Think its over priced at $1400 I think one could just hand fabricate one of these and they do sell different carbide tips.. but yea I've never been a huge fan of buying something I could make myself lol