WL Inlet Nipple Replacement

[Rex]

These were teflon gaskets with maybe 1000 miles on them, all headbolts felt tight when removed. Seems like the wet head bolt holes and threads could only be from a compromised gasket. Does the damp spot on head above the rear exhaust valve indicate valve guide leakage?

It's been over 10 years ago, but I think I checked the head & cylinder surfaced for flatness. May need to revisit that.


Front Head.JPG

Rear Head.jpg

[T. Cotten]

There's lots of ways to inspect for flatness, Rex!

Like a glass plate and feeler gauges,..

warpage.jpg

But it only shows the extremes.

The best way I have found is to cut-to-the-chase and grind both head and cylinder decks, as the patch of contact is obvious, if your grinding method is appropriate. (I use a 42" Polish Mill, for zero set-up time, and minimal stock removal, shown here beneath a wooden tabletop, with a 23" coarse stone on top. White blanchard stone is used to dress the others)

POLSHMIL.jpg

Note that your point of apparent warpage is adjacent to the intake port, the thinnest part of the cylinder deck. This is also the point of warpage upon this Chief cylinder after just a moment of swiping by hand upon the stone.

image_33228.jpg

Low tech rules!


.....Cotten

[Rex]

The best I can do is sandpaper on glass.

Working on getting the old gasket off the cylinder deck, it's bonded like powder coating.

[T. Cotten]

The best I can do is sandpaper on glass.

Working on getting the old gasket off the cylinder deck, it's bonded like powder coating.

The thicker the glass, the better, Rex!

Adhesive discs are great,..

POLSHML3.jpg

The bigger the better, naturally.

....Cotten
PS: Please note that a firm and straight bench is critical as well, as glass up to a half inch 'moves', producing rounded edges, particularly with the rough figure-eight technique.

PPS: Maybe paint stripper first?

[Rex]

Diligence with a scraper that I stone regularly and careful light polish with a 1 1/2" wire wheel cleaned up the cylinder deck. Several large pieces of gasket spontaneously fell from the heads so I don't think they're stuck as bad, but I'll try the stripper if it's a problem.

The only surfaces I have to use would be standard window glass or a new granite surface plate I've had for 10 years and never used. I know its bad form to use abrasives around a surface plate but with masking and vacuuming I think it will be OK.

Which grit it the best for the iron cylinder and aluminum head?

Replace with blue teflon gaskets? It seems like they seal well given intact surfaces. There are also quite a few NOS gaskets around, and I'm not interested in copper.
.

[T. Cotten]

There's no rule against placing the glass upon the granite, Rex!

My previous pic shows that I used two grits, because that's what was available.

....Cotten

[Architect]

I do have that tap, thanks for the link to the source. Do you use solid flat gaskets or the ones with the raised beads?

Raised beads