New head gaskets installation, Di Matteo

["Perez Oscar (INDY)" <PerezO@domain.elided>]

Mitch Wolberg <rkane@domain.elided> Wrote:

Since I may be doing a head gasket in the near future perhaps you could
expand on the advice.

#1. How do you clean off the old gasket? There always seems to be lot of
cooked on gasket that requires quite a bit of elbow grease to remove.
Especially hard to do without scratching.

#2. Never heard about sanding befroe. What grit is safe?

Thanks,
Mitch Wolberg
Denver
69 Duetto Jr. 
69 Berlina

I'm Responding:

I'd never pretend to have Fred's know how-- But there's the basic info I got
fom the digest before I did my own Head Gasket job.

Use either a gasket remover, mine looks like a chisel and is craftsman, or
another sharp blade.  I used both a blade and the gasket remover.  The
advice I got from the digest was to used a sharp angle of attach to avoid
deep scratches and to scrape laterally, to avoid a sratch the goes from one
side of the sealing surface to another.  It does take some elbow grease.  

My own tip would be to soak the Head surface in Gasoline to soften to
remnant gasket.  This worked well for me and I avoided sratching the surface
with too much elbow grease.  I soaked just the surface of the head's lower
sealing surface by placing the head on two pieces of wood in a plastic
container and filled with gas just high enough to touch the head sealing
surface.  Less than an inch.  The next day the gasket scraped off much
easier.

After both surfaces are free of gasket I then "sanded" with scotchbrite pads
to clean up the surface.  It looked new by the time I was done.  The last
step for me, following Digest advice of course, was to wipe down all
surfaces with ACETONE using a clean cloth.  From that point onward I never
touched the surfaces again, and took the gasket out of the plastic with
gloved hands.

I have no complaints.  Thus far she seems tight as a drum.  I plan to
vigilantly torque the head at intervals and keep my eye on the coolant and
dipstick.

Hope this helps.  I'm greatful for all those that gave me great advice when
I asked and hope I did it justice.

Oscar Perez
Indianapolis
91 Spider

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