Cylinder heads and manifold questions.

[mole42]

I've had a great day - all the cylinder head studs and bolts came out perfectly and both heads are off. The LH head actually slid off the engine when I took out the last stud. A slight downer is that one of the inlet manifold bolts sheared off - but it has left about 1/2" of thread in the head to grab so it should come out with some persuasion. The LH inlet manifold bolts were barely tight, I could almost undo them without a spanner.

A couple of questions:

1. Should I use a spray-on jointing when fitting the new head gaskets?
2. Is it necessary to use new bolts & studs in the heads? The studs that came out are clean, the bolts need a bit of attention from the wire brush.
3. The exhaust manifolds were fitted without gaskets. Is this correct? I have new exhaust manifold gaskets but I don't understand why they'd have fitted the manifolds without them.

TIA, Richard

[robbo]

Hi Richard.
When i fitted my new gaskets last year on the advice of Russ (kryton) I used wellseal on the gaskets. This worked a treat for me. I also fitted the new exhaust manifold gaskets.
Rob.

[tractorjames]

When i did mine getting on for 10000miles ago used a very thin smear of hylomar around the water galleries - no problems or leaks up to now.

I re used the bolts following a good clean on the wire wheel and i opted for stainless studs. The bolt shanks were pitted in areas but not corroded enough to affect the strength of the bolts.

I dont think the exhaust manifolds had gaskets originally. I didnt use gaskets in order to get more clearance between the tubular manifolds and steering shaft. Just a smear of silicone. It doesnt leak either!

[mjheathcote]

The exhaust gaskets were never fitted to the cast iron manifolds, but developed more for the fabricated tubular manifolds that need the tolerance the gaskets can give.