Which head gasket?

[saintstag]

Hi all, I have been having problems with water loss. Have recently replaced the inlet manifold gasket but this has made no difference at all. The car is now steaming quite badly from the exhaust and seems to be getting worse. Think the only option is an engine out job so was wondering which gasket set to go for as there looks like about 5 types..... Thanks

[PhilB]

First do a bit of detective work. Compression test and or Plugs out to look for water in cylinders. Do a water pressure test and/or get a kit to check for exhaust gas in the water. If then you sure it is HGF and not still just leaking in from inlet manifold, you can decide whether to remove heads with engine in situ or remove engine to do gaskets with engine out.
I did my heads in situ.
Once you get heads off you will know how bad heads are, whether they can be skimmed if they need it etc.
At that stage it is time to start to worry about what gaskets to use when you rebuild.
Lots of info on here re what lots of folks have done re HGF

[DJT]

As above.

The best head gaskets available for the Stag now are made by BGA and are available in Standard or Extra Thick:

http://www.ldparts.co.uk/shop/shop.php?c=viewproduct&pid=1229&cat=22&maincat=1&start=12&sid=sid8b19953e85f4ac27a56860d6260ea912

http://www.ldparts.co.uk/shop/shop.php?c=viewproduct&pid=742&cat=22&maincat=1&start=12&sid=sid8b19953e85f4ac27a56860d6260ea912

[mole42]

I did my heads in situ and used the gaskets from Abinger Hammer and Hylomar. Torqued them down five times, it's been perfect since..

[thebadleys]

I Used these from Tony Hart, good quality from a knowledgable man.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Stag-NEW-thick-head-gasket-set-Payen-inlet-gaskets-/352126830808?hash=item51fc6508d8

Nigel

[Goldstar]

The Abinger ones (the ones that Peter sells) were sponsored by SOCTFL and are excellent quality.

[KOY 23]

I thought you assembled modern head gaskets dry? I always have and not had problems.

[DJT]

As per my post #3.

The ones sold by Tony Hart, LD Parts, Abinger Hammer, et al, are made by BGA with the help of SOCTFL. The red latex strip around the edge removes the need for any additional sealant. Don't bother with any others unless you can find original and genuine Payen gaskets, which will have the same red seal.

[steve.b]

Has anybody use these one one tony harts ebay wbsite
ww.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Stag-NEW-pair-Cometic-high-performance-head-gaskets-/372014529029?hash=item569dcb3a05

[Guest]

Don't bother with any others unless you can find original and genuine Payen gaskets, which will have the same red seal.

Original gaskets won't have that construction and will have asbestos.

This new design was really put on the market by Reintz (now part of Dana) and Elring for German cars, as well as Goetze who are part of Mahle.

As far the Reintz design, was copied by BGA, which I sometimes buy from The Gasket Shop, (then routinely throw lots of it away on my cars).

Here is a typical Reinz gasket for a Gp A Sierra Cosworth.

Mr Hart sells the Cometic head gaskets which are made he says from the Reinz material.
They are not the same price as the OE (BGA) quality he sells, but at least he appears to give people the choice.

Head gaskets are a science. Clamp load/flatness, deck loading and temperature are everything.

[saintstag]

Thanks for replies, deffo not inlet manifold gasket, have just replaced those, the old ones looked good as new with no signs of leaks anywhere. What should I look for on the plugs? The car runs fine, no oil in water no pressure in expansion bottle just masses of steam behind me! Will take it to local garage for tests. Thanks

[PhilB]

I took all plugs out and spun it over - I could see water splashing out from rear driver side plug hole!
Steam clouds from exhausts.
From that I decided to do the heads. On removal could see where head gaskets had failed.
I had heads skimmed, valve guides replaced and heads rebuilt
and used stainless steel shims plus thick BGA gaskets all put together with thin coating of wellseal to allow for skims removed metal
As I say LOTS of info on old threads on here - just search for head gaskets...head failure.. head removal etc read the lot
seems to have worked well for me.

[richardthestag]

from my experiences I have found a number of "cheap" brand new head gaskets that have poor location/cut of the coolant passage near the rear most fire ring.

This one in the pic looks ok, not sure I would bother though with known good stuff on the market

s-l1600 (1).jpg

The area to study in inside the red box, you may find that the water passage is cut right up to the very edge of the fire ring, if you are unlucky there may be no gasket at all against the fire ring!

This is certain to cause HGF in that area!

Yet another example of the hapless mechanic / owner buying not fit for purpose rubbish

stick to quality from LD Parts, Mr Hart etc

[Mark Serj]

FWIW, Wellseal recommend against putting the Wellseal between the saver shim & gasket, only between the deck & the saver shim.

Cheers

Mark

[trunt]

I have some BGA gaskets, ready for my engine build, I just extracted the instruction sheet and am confused about the Tightening procedure it shows,

can anyone shed some light on just what they are saying here??

IMG.jpg