Head gasket replacement

[Matelotman]

Had my S1 serviced by Ali last week - he noticed my gear linkage was a bit tight. Took my undertray off today to have a look at the linkage and guess what........ water on the undertray with a little stream running down front of the engine. Phoned Ali who said that the car was dry when he serviced it and that it's likely to be a leak from the corner of the gasket

I've done a couple of gaskets on different cars before but are there any pointers to doing the Elise, anything to pay particular attention to and any pitfalls to look out for when getting the head off? Also what's the best new gasket to get?

Cheers

[Rich H]

The options for HGs are landrover MLS which is quite thick and the std rover one.

The MLS one is good for head porosity problems (Not yours!) and the Rover one is more tolerant to liner height problems. Personally I have a Rover HG and would use one again.

Depending on what you want to do you can get it skimmed/ported while its off, or you could just change the gasket and be done with it.

Ideal opportunity to look at PRRT while you are in there.

Rgds
Rich

[Matelotman]

The options for HGs are landrover MLS which is quite thick and the std rover one.

The MLS one is good for head porosity problems (Not yours!) and the Rover one is more tolerant to liner height problems. Personally I have a Rover HG and would use one again.

Depending on what you want to do you can get it skimmed/ported while its off, or you could just change the gasket and be done with it.

Ideal opportunity to look at PRRT while you are in there.

Rgds
Rich

Cheers Rich - what about the "upgraded" gaskets from Elise parts etc?

I've never looked into the PRRT and I wouldn't know where to start - easy enough job or PITA?

I think the leak has literally just started - leaky water and oil is clean and the header is still above the min line so the car's done very few miles with the leak (if any).

[steve_weegie]

The options for HGs are landrover MLS which is quite thick and the std rover one.

The MLS one is good for head porosity problems (Not yours!) and the Rover one is more tolerant to liner height problems. Personally I have a Rover HG and would use one again.

Depending on what you want to do you can get it skimmed/ported while its off, or you could just change the gasket and be done with it.

Ideal opportunity to look at PRRT while you are in there.

Rgds
Rich

Cheers Rich - what about the "upgraded" gaskets from Elise parts etc?

I've never looked into the PRRT and I wouldn't know where to start - easy enough job or PITA?

I think the leak has literally just started - leaky water and oil is clean and the header is still above the min line so the car's done very few miles with the leak (if any).

the tricky bit about fitting a prrt is getting to the old stat. With the head off this is a piece of cake though. There's a few options on what prrt kit to buy though, with options from hacking landrover / mgf kits (see seloc) or buying one from eliseparts / PTP.

I've not seen an eliseparts gasket, but i everybody i speak to recommends either the rover or the payen bw750 one. MLS gasket combined with the new land rover oil rail solves many problems, but only if you've got good liner heights

[Rich H]

Dunno about other gaskets, but I would stick with Rover for the tolerance to liner height thing.

PRRT is easy enough to fit, just pipes and jubliee clips. I bought the landrover kit (PRRT is not jsut a remote thermostat like the eliseparts ones) and it came with an octopus of pipes and clips, I chopped what I needed form it and had loads of pipe and clips left over, £66 IIRC was a while ago mind. Carlos on SELC*CK has a website with loads of pics and diagrams on the PRRT.

My car is an early 97 so has a differnet pipe layout to most but there are a few guys on here with them on. They are just a real pig to bleed properly!

[Matelotman]

Decided to start stripping it tonight ......

[Rich H]

Good luck!!

[steve_weegie]

Good luck!!

All the best!!

[hiscot]

payne gasket is good quailty check the plastic manifold seal is not leaking and water running around the block if its a black seal they leak later version is green make sure yours is and change it any way
use tipex to mark cam belt settings and get the tool that fits in between the pulleys to hold them( costs a couple of quid)
dont turn the engine over when head is off without clamping the linners you dont need to turn the engine over once stripped and fit a new water pump and cambelt
tourque the head up right it uses degrees in stages
water from the corner does indicate head but do check the manifold first you can see gasket colour with out removing
payne gasket set come with new steel dowls yours maybe plastic the dowls can be far to tight into the head / block if so dont hammer in but use fine wet /dry on the dowls you still want a snug tight fit they only need a slight rub

[Matelotman]

payne gasket is good quailty check the plastic manifold seal is not leaking and water running around the block if its a black seal they leak later version is green make sure yours is and change it any way
use tipex to mark cam belt settings and get the tool that fits in between the pulleys to hold them( costs a couple of quid)
dont turn the engine over when head is off without clamping the linners you dont need to turn the engine over once stripped and fit a new water pump and cambelt
tourque the head up right it uses degrees in stages
water from the corner does indicate head but do check the manifold first you can see gasket colour with out removing
payne gasket set come with new steel dowls yours maybe plastic the dowls can be far to tight into the head / block if so dont hammer in but use fine wet /dry on the dowls you still want a snug tight fit they only need a slight rub

Cheers for that - never crossed my mind to look at manifold, mine is black but I'm pretty sure leak is from head gasket. I've ordered all the parts from Rover today including head gasket, green manifold gasket, cambelt (manual tension), tensioner (manual type)and expansion bottle cap.... guy looked at me funny when I asked if I could order the Landy PRRT kit so I'll get that elsewhere. - probably won't get stuck in properly until Friday (what better way to spend bank hol weekend?). I'm nervous as hell about making a c**t of it but I've done heads and cambelts on other cars so should be ok if I'm careful.

[Rich H]

Easy enough, just time consuming, forgot you will need a cut down socket for the crank bolt, 22mm IIRC and a big torque wrench.
There are a few suitable sockets knocking about SE

[Matelotman]

forgot you will need a cut down socket for the crank bolt, 22mm IIRC and a big torque wrench.

I have numerous 22mm sockets and a BIG grinder Car is over a pit aswell so should be able to get plenty leverage with torquey (and maybe bar on the end if required ) - I'll try and take pics as I go that way when the car disintegrates when I start it, you can tell me where I went wrong.....

[hiscot]

forgot you will need a cut down socket for the crank bolt, 22mm IIRC and a big torque wrench.

I have numerous 22mm sockets and a BIG grinder Car is over a pit aswell so should be able to get plenty leverage with torquey (and maybe bar on the end if required ) - I'll try and take pics as I go that way when the car disintegrates when I start it, you can tell me where I went wrong.....

change the manifold gasket first it wont take long as the black version is very prone to leaking and the water runs around to the front if its only a trickle
they made it green because it was updated and it can be reused if the head is still leaking
you will also require the stretch bolt socket if you dont have one halfords sell them, i think its an e12 from memory
i used a tipex dot on the bolt head for the stage torque tighten sequence
i have just fitted a bottom pully to mine that i had the excess power steering belt grove machined off, it makes a huge differance to refitting and removing at a later date

[robin]

Once the head is off you need to measure the liner height protrusion. Ideally you'll have 4 thou or so clearance on each liner above the block face. If the liners have dropped or there is a significant difference from one liner to the next, you will get repeated HGF. If the elasto-polymer seal has gone chances are your head is shuffling about, probably caused by plastic dowels. Chuck them away, 'cos they are useless and replace with steel ones - as Bob says, you may need to fettle the dowel to make it fit in the block. Also, at the flywheel end check that your new gasket has an oil pathway from the dowel hole to the oil return (should be a small cutout) - if it doesn't have one, you might want to nick it in - it allows oil to return to the sump when there is more pressure than can be swallowed by the pathways in the head.

Enjoy yourself

Cheers,
Robin

[r10crw]

Chris Ive done several heads on the elise now, so If you need a hand for anything including the remote stat just give a me a shout.