Water between head and block

[sujitroy]

I removed my inlet manifold on Stag no.2 to take care of a leak. The block has been drained from the engine drain plugs. I notice something shinny between the block and head. i got a paper towel and fed it through the small gap. it is wet. I am unsure why it remains wet as the block is drained. I rebuild this engine with new Payen gaskets and did not apply any sealer. The leak is between two pistons. I have a spare block and can see the water galley is right there. The head stud is right by there too. I have not driven the car much since rebuilding it. However I have retorqued the heads. Can I clamp the head down further? Currently the heads are torqued to 65 lbs. If this is not recommended then the head will come off again. I have another stock Payen gasket, but will use some sealer this time or I could get the BGA thick gasket with some sealer to hopefully take care so some imperfections on the block face around the water passage. Any other recommendations?

Sujit

[flying farmer]

I had this problem on my 246bhp Stag, but it was leaking from the exhaust side when I first assembled it.

On that engine both the block and heads had been skimmed so it was definitely a gasket problem.

I suspect the problem was that my "Payen" gaskets were fakes and I had bought them from a respected Stag specialist. The giveaway was the lack of gasket material between the rear fire ring and the waterway, but I didn't find this out until after I had built the engine. I still have a pair in stock, but have used BGA gaskets for the last two builds.

This was a difficult period that followed the demise of the Payen gaskets, but was before the availability of the BGA gaskets.

In my case I lobbed in a bottle of K seal and that fixed the problem until last year when I had the heads off again to put exhaust valve pockets in the pistons. I had forgotten to take account of timing chain stretch and head gasket compression which meant the exhaust valves were clipping the piston crowns, fortunately not hard enough to cause damage!

I have had no leaks with the BGA gaskets, but they do need regular re-torquing for a while.

Neil

[sujitroy]

Hello Neil,
I've heard mixed reviews about K seal. I'll give it a go. A small bottle cost only 12$. I think my gaskets are genuine. They came out of a set and there is a no. stamped on them.
Thanks, Sujit

[Dieter H. Marschall]

Hello Neil,
who sells these BGA head gaskets?
Best wishes,
Dieter.

[JeffW]

Hello Neil,
who sells these BGA head gaskets?
Best wishes,
Dieter.

Hi Dieter

Here is their web site, but oddly they do not list Stag under the vehicle search:

https://store.bgautomotive.co.uk/

I hope they have not discontinued the gaskets. Perhaps Neil has some more information.

Jeff

[DJT]

Hello Neil,
who sells these BGA head gaskets?
Best wishes,
Dieter.

LD Parts, Robsport, James Paddock, etc.

[Ian928]

Could that water have been sitting there from the leaking intake manifold? I think the water will drain right into that crevice from the manifold and not evaporate fast because of the small surface area.

[sujitroy]

Could that water have been sitting there from the leaking intake manifold? I think the water will drain right into that crevice from the manifold and not evaporate fast because of the small surface area.

Possibly, but the car has been sitting for more than a week. I plan to fill the block with water up to that point and see.
Sujit

[Goldstar]

LD Parts, Robsport, James Paddock, etc.

And the recently (last couple of years) available standard thickness gaskets were manufactured with SOCTFL support