[alfa] Reinz Head Gaskets

[Richard Lane <srlane@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm the one of the other guys near Santa Clara, CA who had a failed Reinz head
gasket. 

My problem was instant leaking of coolant into the rear oilways and the
destruction of 6 quarts of oil in 10 minutes. I'd love to send Dana the
offending gasket, but unfortunately I used it to practice the application of
the Permatex Ultra-Grey before I applied it to the replacement Reinz gasket -
this time supplied by Jon Norman with the diagram of where to apply. This
second one hasn't leaked yet. 

Throughout the Reinz=Bad discussion I think it's important to distinguish
between two circumstances :- 

The earlier blocks (certainly up to '74 and maybe as later as the 80s) have the
oil returns in the block and so need the gasket to contain a bead of sealant
around the front of the oilways (ie between the oilway and the water-bath
surrounding the liners. Later blocks had external oil returns and so didn't
need this bead. The Reinz gaskets we are receiving seem to be designed around
the later block and so are missing the bead that divides oil from water. This
is just an error, plain and simple, not a lowering of build-quality, or failure
in manufacture - they're just designed wrong - and it's the reason that Jon
Norman of Alfa-Parts, attaches the note about Ultra-grey around the rear
oil-returns.

Then...the other circumstance - that it would leak around the front or
elsewhere, that we should use Ultra-Grey everywhere, and that we should torque
to 75ft-lb (that's a lot! - isn't there more to head-torque than squishing the
gasket? - sounds like a risky solution to me) have to  be a separate problem -
caused by some separate manufacturing change, QA failure or other defect
elsewhere. 

But I'd be happy to write to Dana and tell him my problems.

-Richard Lane
San Jose, CA
1967 GTV
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