Always with the drama

[craigieeb]

Well the car has been acting/performing absoluty perfectly since coming out of winter hibernation, and puts the biggest grin on my face every time i get in it.

It has claimed sooooo many victims and the looks on their faces after they have been blown away by an "old BM" is priceless

But not so long ago, I should of seen the sings of it not being right,
first of all, the expansion tank on the side of the radiator popped the seal on the bottom and started leaking water,
I just thought it was knackered,
so bought a nice shiny all alloy rad,
installed, bled up, lovely.

Not long after that, I noticed quite a lot of gunk and water in my catch can,
and the water looked a bit low,
emptied the can,
refilled with coolant,
happy days,
untll.....

I was out and about on the county roads up past Hexam having fun with some bikes
and the temp needle went into the red

cooled it down, slowly made my way home
and started to rip the engine to bits to find out what the hell was going on

low and behold the gasket was leaking in every possible place it could be,
from the top, the bottom and inbetween the layers










I'm absolutely fed up to the back teeth with these " COMETIC MLS" gaskets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is the second time it has happened and at £250 a pop you can imagine how i'm feeling grrrrr

so, plans are.. to go down the "cut ring" gasket route
and melt down the cometic gaskets to have a bbq over the hot molten lava

[ross_jsy]

Had any luck sourcing the copper spacer?

I think you need some low comp pistons

[craigieeb]

I stumbled across this company selling copper gaskets on the bay..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160712883271? ... 26_rdc%3D1

I've been speaking to them and they are going to see if they can make one/some at the thickness I want

I think you need some low comp pistons

Low comp pistons - £5-600
Rods - £3-500 plus bearings etc and the gasket, will run me into about a grand,

but,

if I get the gasket at the price i showed you and the copper spacer,
that would only be around £250 ish which I would be sort of happy with, just to see it through the summer.

The fun will start when it comes off the road at the end of the year............


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261876111643? ... EBIDX%3AIT

[ross_jsy]

Just trying to get you to spend some more money

I've just bought a couple of goodies

[craigieeb]

Can't do it, i'm off on holiday in a few weeks, and if the missus sees the card statement after binge buying,
I think she'll leave me there haha

I've just bought a couple of goodies

what you been buying now??

[ross_jsy]

Nothing exciting, friend is getting a new turbo kit for his ridiculous Evo so a few things were up for grabs. Got a Forge re-circ valve, Sytec FPR and a Precision wastegate

[ross_jsy]

Just spotted this by the way, might help you:

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showt ... tall-guide

Now I need to add some sanding stones to the list of things to buy!

[craigieeb]

Yeah i've already seen that fella,
they say to prep the block the same way as you would with a "cometic" gasket
mine is still nice and fresh, but it will be getting another cleaning before it goes back together....... again

btw, CES can fook right off with their over inflated prices and shipping fees

$215 just to ship a gasket hahaha

NO!

[ross_jsy]

I know mate, almost choked when I saw your PM. Smart thinking looking up Athena as they are who supply CES anyway.

[craigieeb]

Yeah I nearly fell off my chair when I read the email crazy fools

but like i said in the P.M, the price I found them at is amazing compared to CES,

Now it all rests on the copper spacer plate for me

[ross_jsy]

If you can't find one, I'll speak to my mate who works in CAD who could no doubt scan a gasket to get it milled out for you

[Mikey_Boy]

Don't want to piss on anyone's chips here, but I'm assuming all the fundamentals are right with the engine before going down the 'copper washer' route?

Reason I say it... During my Cosworth days we tried copper washers on the highly boosted Group A engines (4 bar) and then realised that MLS gaskets were actually better for a multitude of reasons.

Copper washer engines need rebuilding a heck of a lot too...

Don't hose me for saying it as I don't know anything about the specifics of your motor - just putting it out there...

[ross_jsy]

MLS gaskets are notorious for doing this. About 4 or 5 years ago they were what everyone was using, but now everyone is moving away from them as sealing is a major issue.

Same as my friends evo, multiple gaskets later he has swapped from a Cosworth MLS one to a organic

[Mikey_Boy]

Interesting - any consistent reasons why??

[craigieeb]

Tbh, I couldn't tell you whats gone wrong with these gaskets,

the first cometic I had, the .140, was great at first, it lasted quite a while and i was able to reuse it for a while after an engine change, then it started leaking,
so I bought a new one,
and when it turned up I instantly seen that it looked to be of better quality over the first one I bought,
as in, the top and bottom layers seemed to have been "pressed" to a better standard, if you know what I mean..?
the embossed parts seemed to be more prominent.

and yeah, it's been holding nice and tight for some time, until now

now if it was some error on my behalf, by not having the head or the block machined to the right finish,
then it would of leaked straight away from the top or the bottom,

but from what i've seen, it's been leaking from the middle part of the "layers" ruining the rest of the gasket,



If i was presented with that, by someone else, i would of instantly said.... what head bolts are you using..?

but I'm using ARP's and they were torqued and re-torqued to the correct settings
and after going through 2 of these gaskets and many many other people starting to "shy away" from them
due to the same reasons,
i'm only left with 2 options.....

forged rods and pistons (which is the bigger picture over the winter)
or
a cut ring gasket with a copper spacer to get the car moving again soon

[ross_jsy]

Interesting - any consistent reasons why??

There was a huge thread about it on Bimmerworks at one point with some knowledgable people giving input. From what I remember, most of the leaks start around the oil gallery near cylinder 6. Can't remember any more than that though.

Hopefully in 3 years time people won't be complaining about the cut ring gaskets, time will tell I guess.

[Mikey_Boy]

Thanks gents - I'll have a look on the Bimmerworks forum for more info.

Don't get me wrong, cut ring gaskets are fundamentally a very good thing, getting the machining right is the challenge but I'm sure you're on top of that.

Good luck with the rebuild!