Head Gasket Fitting and Mystery

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here are some pictures of my temporary engine I installed about 15 years ago in my 28 Phaeton. After it has been through some serious overheats I removed the head almost two years ago, figuring the gasket had to be shot. Actually it was still good, but as usual after each overheat the head nuts needed to be retorqued.

I was going to tear the engine down to find the light ticking noise, but for now I will just put the head back on and drive it some more. The pistons have plenty of side play, and I'm sure that's what the light ticking is. The pistons are .015", so I'm hoping to get by with honing to .020" and installing new pistons, rings and valves when I tear it down.

The pictures show how you should lay the gasket on the block to check for full coverage of the fire ring, and also do the same on the head. Every part of the fire ring must be pinched tight on both sides.

Now, they mystery is about the bubble in the head gasket where the head has a large opening, but the block is solid in that same area. Did VICTOR stamp the bulge in the gasket, or did it form after the gasket was installed years ago? I can't imagine the factory stamping it in, and yet I see no way for it to form on it's own, as it's solid steel on the bottom side of the bulge.

The markings read: VICTOR 800-C
US Patent 1815601
Canada 314895

 

[tbirdtbird]

Tom, i see that often. I do not know the cause. I wonder if an overheat here or there contributes somehow

 

[Gary WA]

Just redid a head gasket- the gasket looked perfect but the bulge was there and water was in the oil-I was thinking it came from around the bulge area?!!

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

My head checked out nice and flat, but I was thinking if some coolant got under the gasket in that area during the overheat, it might have turned to steam and pushed the copper up. I sure can't think of anything else to cause such a bulge.

 

[colin1928]

Tom the bubble in the gasket comes from the difference between the compressed area and non compressed area of the gasket as the gasket is compressed it will get thinner and push sideways into any non compressed area it is only a small amount but it does happen that is why you keep the fire rings away from the edges
I have seen it on new gaskets on new rebuilds when we swap heads (last minute customer change of mind ) for different compression ratios

 

[clo2jim]

Your tick could be a valve that is slightly out of adjustment a few thou. doesn't take much to get a tick. I have a tick on start-up from one of my valve on startup that goes away once the motor is up to temperature.

Sorry Wrong location

 

[Mitch//pa]

Tom the bubble in the gasket comes from the difference between the compressed area and non compressed area of the gasket as the gasket is compressed it will get thinner and push sideways into any non compressed area it is only a small amount but it does happen that is why you keep the fire rings away from the edges
I have seen it on new gaskets on new rebuilds when we swap heads (last minute customer change of mind ) for different compression ratios

Times two. By compressing into the coolant passage on the non compressed side it helps to seal it off... Moderns do this but do not have as prevalent of a depression because they are not old school metal gaskets

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

My other computer had the pictures of the engine when I first removed the head. This had a bad overheat when I was driving 50 MPH to keep up with some of the guys in our club that like to drive fast. Seems the top tank filled with coolant until it flowed out the overflow pipe, then it overheated. I waited a few weeks then pulled the head, and this is how it looked. Some of the head nuts were fairly loose after the overheat, and this allowed water into the center 2 cylinders, and you can see the rust it caused.

As bad as this gasket looked I still wanted to clean it and reuse it since the engine will get an overhaul in the near future. So far it's working fine.