Sleeving cylinder head bolt holes

[Dave L]

I have,with the exception of what seems to be oversize head stud & bolt holes,a good set of Stag heads. I am concernerd that is I try and use these heads on an engine that I am building that I could encounter a couple of problems such as the correct location of the heads on the block and possible water leaks. Has anyone gone the route of sleeving these holes to bring them back to the correct size ?


Regards

Dave L

Toronto

[V Mad]

Dave, if all you are concerned with is alignment, I would have thought it unnecessary (and probably undesirable) to sleeve all the holes. Instead just fit a small alignment 'spacer' sleeve over a bolt or stud at each end. A short length of thin walled s/steel should suffice. Counterbore if necessary to fit the spacer.

[Dave L]

Chris,I will have a closer look at these heads and compare the holes with some of the other heads that I have. Would you know how much aluminum would have to be removed before you would risk going through to the water jacket

Regards
Dave

[V Mad]

Dave, surely they can't be oversized that much to worry about breakthrough?

[Dave L]

Chris, I dont really think there is a problem with breakthrough but I will measure the holes and post my findings.Going from memory I believe that the standard holes are wider at the head face and cam side and a little narrower in the centre,but I will check over the weekend.

Dave

[Firept]

Dave,
Have a look at this thread :- http://www.stag.org.uk/forum/showthr...oblems-An-idea.
I did look at sleeving the heads with stainless from memory there is a metric tube that is just the right size for the head stud and the holes in the head needed to be something like 12.5mm dia. I found it on the bay but several suppliers had the same type of tube it may help.

Paul.

[mike@thenook]

Dave,
Have a look at this thread :- http://www.stag.org.uk/forum/showthr...oblems-An-idea.
I did look at sleeving the heads with stainless from memory there is a metric tube that is just the right size for the head stud and the holes in the head needed to be something like 12.5mm dia. I found it on the bay but several suppliers had the same type of tube it may help.

Paul.

Thinking about this again as (we were chatting in the thread above) if one sleeved all the inner studs but used a standard stud at one corner and standard bolts to give a datum point this would probably work and end the seizures too.
I'm going to have to get my heads off (God knows what state they will be in) so I can get them re-conned or swap for some others (MK2's) but I'm determined when I re-build to do so in a way I don't get the seized bolt problem again.

Cheers

Mike

[flying farmer]

The stud surrounds are very thin in the middle apparently, spoke to someone on Monday who ran off 1/8 inch trying to drill out seized studs and hit the water jacket.

He has been trying to find another pair of heads with no luck, so I pointed him in the direction of the local engineering firm I use. They do a lot of work on vintage machinery that need one off solutions so I should imagine sleeving a stud hole shouldn't be too much of a challenge

Neil

[mike@thenook]

That is very worrying, glad you mentioned before someone (me) takes up on the sleeving idea - makes you wonder if any of the normal corrosion can be down to the water 'seeping as a result of the porosity of the heads and the stud holes.

The lack of heads (Mk2 particularly) is getting to be a problem too, I spoke to a guy at Abbinger Hammer last week who said they almost had one "Millennium" Head head side ready to go but not the other yet and poor old Roger is off with some virus he picked up on holiday so even more delays...
I wondered what price they would be when ready but no indications as yet
I must say when this problem reared its head I was very tempted to look for a good TR6 engine and update the injection - it is a far better built and unit stronger with none of the bad metal problems the poor old Stag unit suffers from, combined with the fact there are still a good supply of spares to be found- at the moment.
(Yes ok - i'll now go and wash my mouth out with something horrid!)

Cheers,

[staginhiding]

Just a thought and I'm sure its been said before,but if you are thinking of putting in stainless sleeves/tubes and the regular studs back in.
Why not just clean the stud holes out properly,not oversize and use stainless studs..