Our findings... totally inconclusive. There were no obvious hole or broken bits of piston, no broken head studs, nothing. We also cleaned the top of piston #4 and looked for cracks and other problems that might have been hidden by the carbon deposits. Nothing there either. All I can figure is that somehow I put enough torque on the engine to unseat the head gasket for #4. There is an oil drain passaged parallel to the bore that runs very close to the sealing rings for the head gasket.
I have done a cursory cleaning of the head. My plan at this point is to take the head to the machine shop and have them crack and leak check it and maybe even go ahead and have the valve seats recut if nothing is found wrong.
When I know the head is good I will probably fit it temporarily to the block with an o-ring in place of a head gasket and repeat the leak down test.
More to follow.
Doug L.
--Previous Message--
: Doug I can feel your pain. I have been
: working on Brit iron for a long time,
: and many times I have put my plan into
: action before thinking it all the way
: through, resulting in broken stuff.
: My mantra that I repeat before I do
: anything is "OK now how can I
: screw this up". Really.
: I'm visualizing #4 packed with light
: rope, with a TON (???) of torque
: applied, what's the weak link? I dunno,
: I've given it a lot of thought and
: can't come up with anything good. The
: head "squish" area is a
: little thin if it has been resurfaced a
: lot.
: In any case, if it makes you feel
: better, everybody screws up sometimes,
: fewer admit it.
: This definitely warrants pictures!
: Hang in there,
: Glen
:
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