[alfa] V6 cylinder head held up by cylinder liners -- problem solved

["Rich Hirsch" <rhirsch@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I wrote: 

>> I'm replacing the head gaskets on the 2.5 '87 Milano and I've run 
into a problem. The cylinder head doesn't compress the gasket properly. 
With the head gasket and cylinder head in place and torqued down to 
56 ft-lbs., there is a small gap between the top of the gasket and the 
bottom of the cylinder head. This gap is about 1mm wide and runs all 
the way around the cylinder head. The gap is large enough that when 
coolant was added to the overflow bottle, the it actually poured (!) 
out of the gap. <<

>> In examining the block and cyl. head, the problem appears to be 
that the head is not seating properly because the cyl. liners are 
sticking up too high. When I measure the cylinder liner protrusion 
above the block, it is about 1.5mm. Workshop manual says this SHOULD 
be 0.01mm - 0.06mm. (My measurement was done with hold-down clamps 
in place and torqued to 10 ft-lbs.) <<

To which ethan schartman replied:

>> i would bet that the original flame-proof rings are still on 
the liners. the v6 at some point had a multipart head gasket that 
involved a separate ring on each liner to seal the combustion 
chamber. <<

To which I replied:

>> I know the early GTV6s used a multi-part head gasket. Perhaps 
the early Milanos did also, but my '87 Milano did not... the 
cylinder liners have nothing on top of them.<< 

As it turns out Ethan is right and I was wrong (so what else is new...). 

The liners did have the original flame-proof rings on them. 
Here's my justification for thinking the cylinder liners were "naked":

1) I thought I had the updated head gasket since the Milano head 
gasket lasted 15 yrs and 108k miles. I had read that the early 
gasket was much less reliable. 

2) I expected the "separate rings" to resemble washers. The rings in 
reality are essentially caps that had to be pried off and to my eyes, 
they looked like part of the liner casting.

3) I really thought the head gasket I removed had the rings as an 
integral part of the gasket.

In any case after the rings were removed, the cyl. liner projection 
was within spec (essentially flush) and the head gasket now seals.

Thanks Ethan!

Rich Hirsch
'87 Milano (problem child at moment)
'78 Spider
'67 Duetto
St Louis AROC newsletter ed.
St Louis MO USA
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