Sump plug

I'd re-use the head bolts and replace the head gasket. I have 2 sets
of head bolts and I re-used the 10 shortest ones

For any head gasket, as others have said, the fire rings distort on
1st torqueing, so you've no chance of it sealing the next time. Like
those deformable exhaust gaskets you get, use once, then throw away ..

Paul.

 

As a lot of others have already said, the problem with head gaskets
is that a lot of them incorporate a crush seal around the inner edge
and once it's been released it never quite seals properly again.

Buy a new one, put the old one on the new bag and Ebay it.

 

I knew that deep down, but wanted someone to assure me that it would be
fine re-using the 'old' bits.
I've just put my order in to Euro Carparts, nearly £100 inc. a new
tensioner. I'm going to be keeping it for a couple more years, so sense
has overcome frugality.

The valve 'pinged' when I turned the engine a quarter turn with a
ratchet on the crank. Apparently these have a habit of breaking right
near the collets if the valve is stressed when refitted, though how I
could be so hamfisted as to damage a valve when refitting is beyond me
- the collet end is not even touched when refitting the springs.

Naughty. I'm sure people have done that before - I was just looking for
head bolts on there, some were loose in a bag, there is no way of
knowing if they had already been used, then cleaned up for selling on.
Far better to go to a reputable source for these I reckon.
Ta
Alan.

 

Only if you put it together with the timing wrong, surely?

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Well, yes, I know that, it was all assembled, just needed a water top-up
before it could be started, I was turing it over by hand to make sure it
was all free. Moved it round a little bit, then heard a ping. Removing
the cams revealed a valve end with two collets still held onto the
broken piece.
Alan.

 

The K series forum juries are out on that. Some stretch beyond re-use,
some don't. They recommend measuring them.

In an ideal world you'd never re-use, but since the K series head
gasket appears to be a service item ...

Paul.

 

I was actually talking about this specific incident. Mr Lee seems to
have done something 'odd'


<quote>
it was all assembled, just needed a water top-up
before it could be started
</quote>

Which would seem to indicate to me that the timing was out. Of course,
this may have been covered elsewhere in the thread, which I CBA to read
through.
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

No, nothing wrong, just a valve snapped at the collet end when it was
turned over.
No apparent reason, and a VW forum suggests this is not quite unusual on
this engine (VW 1.8 20v).
Alan.

 

The timing was perfect. It was clearly a manufacturing fault, or was
inadvertently damaged when fitting it.
No pressure was put on the engine at all, it was turned slowly by hand,
and I heard a 'ping' as it turned. In total, it was turned less than a
quarter turn.
It was being re-fitted as I had just replaced most of the valves after a
cambelt fault. The valves that were damaged then were bent at the head
end, not the collet end, so this was not a normal fault.
Alan.