Well, I was changing oil for the second time on my recently rebuild b18c and I noticed that oil was leaking all around the head gasket... . Now I will have to take the head off again and put in new gasket. It's kind of ok since I was going to put in ARP studs anyway, but I just hate the fact that the head gasket was leaking without no reason. I didn't even put the turbo on it yet. Would anyone like to speculate as to why it is leaking???

Also I will need to get a new head gasket, this one was stock, so I want to upgrade to something better for boost. Any suggestions??? I will be running about 20psi (425whp). It would help if I could lower the compression about .3 of a point, current CR is about 9.8:1 since it will be the second time I will be cleaning off the head it might be a bit higher. The bore is 81.5. Any suggestions??? What material is best???

Thanks for any help,

Rafal

 

are the deck of the block and the surface of the head copmpletly flat??? id have them check out before the head goes back on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2.2Lcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">are the deck of the block and the surface of the head copmpletly flat??? id have them check out before the head goes back on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ditto..That an a compression an leakdown test after your sure the head is getting a perfect fit on the block.

 

Alumiumn blocks, especially open deck ones can be a PITA if not prepped correctly. Make sure the mating surfaces are within specs for flatness. Since this is a high pressure application, I would make sure that the mating surfaces are with half what OEM tolerances aer.

 

Yes the engine block and the head were machined off before installation, so they should have been just fine. This is also why I was surprised to see the leak. I have a welded in block guard as well so the block should be able to keep it's flatness without any problems.

I will post some pics of the leaks tomorrow at work.

What about the head gasket, what should I go with???

 

Put some copper spray on the new gasket.

 

Did you toqure the head bolts from the center out.

 

Yes they were torques properly, but I don't remember right now what spec it was a while ago. I really don't know what's up with this.

So what gasket should I go with ????

 

Here are some pics of what the leak looks like. As you can see in some places the oil has creeped up onto the head. Also you can notice that on the driver side the leak seems to be coming from somwhere higher up than the head gasket. Looking at it for a few more minutes I realized that it may be there is a leak somwhere and the oil just spreads from there all around the head gasket. Could this be possible???









Thanks for the help.

Rafal



Modified by Screamer at 8:19 AM 4/14/2003

 

You've been X'ed.

 

Can't see any pics. But you didn't reply about using copper spray. Also, did you change to new cam seals? I used Cometic and spray it 3 times with couple of minutes in between the spray.

 

Sorry about that, I did not use the copper spray. Yes the engine received a complete new set of seals everywhere. Anyone has Cometic's website??? Can you comment on the copper spray as to where to buy it and what it is for??? I haven't heard about this before.

I will try to fix the pics.

Thanks,

 

How are the pics now???

 

pics dont work. cometic or oem will be fine.

 

I would bet the leak is elsewhere. Don't pull your head quite yet. Look to the valve cover gasket, distributor deal or in the vtec selenoid area. 95% of those leaks come from those 3 spots.

 

My "front cam seals" were slighly leaking for some odd reason after I pulled my head to install new pistons and a block guard.. The leak was coming from the cam gear side of the engine. Make sure it's the head gasket. I would suggest if you do replace the headgasket, use a brand new OEM gasket, and copper spray that badboy.
HTH
M

 

Thanks for the great advice guys.

I have decided that I will be taking the head off to see what exactly is happening. I just want to be sure everything is fine before I put the turbo on. I have also purchased a set of ARP studs and a cometic head gasket. John at cometic was great to deal with and helped me select exactly what I was looking for.

I will keep you guys posted once I find out what is happening.

 

the risen your head gasket is that it was not from the center out if you do not do it that way you will break the gasket every time. copper gasket would work very wall with 20ps of boost and lower compression depanding on the head gasket some lower more and some raise compression. that is a lot of boost good luck.