J9BBY

Just taken my head off for a new head gasket and the bores have copper strip round them. Does this mean it has cylinder liners?

Also, the pistons have +0.5 written on them. How much will that increase my cc by?

I presume the copper has to be completely flat with the block?


Thanks for your replies.
Pete.

bud-weis

is the 'copper' a couple of mm away from the edge of the bore? sounds like it has been wire rung, the wire needs to protrude slightly to bite into the fire ring of the gasket,preferably using a gasket without solid fire rings.

what power are you running? you'll probably find that a standard gasket will be fine for around 330bhp. A Grp A gasket will take more punishment but the fire rings are harder and you may have trouble sealing at the edge of the gasket causing oil or water leaks.

J9BBY

Ah, ok. Yeah copper is a couple of mm from the edge of the bore so sounds like it's wire rung. This wire goes up and down a bit and is by no means the same height all the way round. The old head gasket had blown on all four cylinders to the water jacket and i presume this would be why. Have head the head skimmed and bought a new group 'a' head gasket, which happens to be the same make as the one i took off - Victor Reinz. The last time the car was on the rollers it was 340bhp that was on a different standard block (big ends went).


Any suggestions on what is best to do?
Can you get new wire to put in, or is this a job for the pros?
Could i make the wire the same level as the block, would it not expand a bit under heat anyway and protrude once engine is warm?
Will my new head gasket be usable on this or are there specific ones?


What are the benifits/disadventages of having the block wire rung?



Cheers in advance.

Pete.

bud-weis

sounds like the wire will need to be replaced,probably best to give it to a pro really, basically what you'll need to do is use the correct gauge wire (i think welding wire can be used) and it needs to be very lightly tapped into the groove all of the way around,then when you get to the join you need to cut it and file the end off until it's so close you can barely see the join.

it needs to sit uniform on all 4 bores and you can't just remove the wire and hope for the best....you could however have it flatted down so it's absolutely level with the block face, obviously this then will give no benefits but at least you can still use the block.

the idea of wire ringing is to increase the strength of the fire ring to prevent it 'blowing out' (obviously when the head is torqued down,the wire bites into the gasket and holds it nice and tight)

Sideways_Sierra

What sort of money would be a good price for this job ? As in, wire ring my block , from scratch.
Anyone?

RS-Leigh

iTrader: (2)

£600 ish

Leigh

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

cant remember how much mine cost, as i had a load of other stuff done at the same time, Karl at NMS did mine

J9BBY

Thanks for your help. Just knocked the wire down flat for just now. Hopefully it'll be good at that as not running that high HP. I can always replace the wire later when i've got more time, patience and the weather's better.


If I was to replace the wire, would this mean i could use more boost pressure or do the standard pistons start to melt around this point? What can the standard bottom end handle?


Cheers again.
Pete.

bud-weis

standard bottom end will be fine for what you require,standard they can handle 500bhp

Sideways_Sierra

Cheers Leigh

bud-weis

for £600 i imagine that covers removing the head,ringing and then refitting the head

just wire ringing a bare block cost me about £80 i think (although that was 'mates rates')

RS-Leigh

iTrader: (2)

Cylinder head removal, wire ring block, new grp A head gasket, head bolts and new top end gasket set. etc etc

Drive in drive out, job done.

Leigh