advice needed thankyou please yes!

I'm at the stage now where my new bottom endis installed in the car and I can't do anything else untill my new head gasket/bolts arrive, in the meantime my bottom end is covered in a plastic sheet and the cylinder head is on a palletagain covered in a plastic sheet, are they likely to get damaged from rain ect like this? or am I best to just fit the head temporarily using my old head gasket/bolts untill the new stuff arrives? cheers!

I'd keep the head in the car out of the weather. Mines been stood outside for a week in winter with the bear bottom end in. I covered the bores in blue paper and kept the bonnet shut and it was fine, (good for 2nd at Brands yesterday anyway).
Yours should be fine by the sound of it.

nice one, cheers for that mate! it should have been finished by last friday but i've been waiting for over a week for a new head gasket and head bolts! are you racing a valver mate?

Where did you order the gasket set from? Nobody seems to be carrying any stock of anything at the moment.
I'm racing a PB 8v.

I got an ABF head gasket, I got it from www.carparts-direct.com their prices aren't as cheap as some but they sell oem parts, incidently, my new bolts/gasket arrived today and the bolts instructions said the following;

1, 40nm
2, 60nm
3, turn 90deg
4, 60nm
5, 90deg
6, 90deg


I take it this means that after the bolts have stretched after the 1st 90deg turn I then re-torque to 60nm and then a total of 180deg to finish?

cupra16vgeezer wrote:

I got an ABF head gasket, I got it from www.carparts-direct.com their prices aren't as cheap as some but they sell oem parts, incidently, my new bolts/gasket arrived today and the bolts instructions said the following;

1, 40nm
2, 60nm
3, turn 90deg
4, 60nm
5, 90deg
6, 90deg


I take it this means that after the bolts have stretched after the 1st 90deg turn I then re-torque to 60nm and then a total of 180deg to finish?

id read that as go round each bolt in the correct order at 40nm, then round them all again at 60nm, then turn all 90deg, 60nm, then 90deg round all of them, then 90deg again. rather than 180deg on each.

40nm
60nm
90degrees
90degrees

that is all you will ever need for 16v head bolts.

Yeah that's what you siad to torque to on my build thread, but when the instructions for the bolts said differently I just thought i'd check really. But as with most things experience usually wins and as your car is still working I think i'll just carry on and torque them your way!

right, got the bolts torqued up to the stated settings and instead of putting 2 90deg turns on each, even with a 2ft knuckle bar I could barely get a single 90deg turn! (and it's not cos of weak arms! im a "well built" strong-in-the-arm Yorkshireman) I couldn't particularly feel when the bolts stretched either, there was only a momentary release of tightness just over the 40nm setting then they tightened right back up again. does this sound right?

probably gonna need a bigger bar mate, i had a 3 foot breaker bar on mine and still took some doing(even with weight behind it) and youve seen how im built lol.

good job I checked then really! they felt really "springy" like a bolt that's about to snap too. I never want to do this again! if it breaks again (assuming it ever works again!!) i'm selling up and buying a rover 600!

mate ive done so many heads now and i still sweat like a paedo in a playground when i torque them up, i hate the feeling and the sound of it.

I knew tiz was really a mister M Jackson, i just knew it

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH dont let my secret out.. heeeeheeee.

no? ok ill get my coat.

how in the name of feck do I find No.1 piston tdc? there is an arrow on the lower cambelt cover but nothing on the lower pully to line it up with! the old bottom end had a blob of red paint on the spindle that the pully bolts to but the new one has nothing!!! can I just look down No1 plug hole and turn it over till I see the piston is at tdc? or is that a recepie for shite cam timing?

notch on the flywheel but i dont normally trust marks. Put something long and thin down number 1 turn till it gets to its highest point and keep it there. You want it so you can rock the bottom pulley ever so slightly and the long thin object doesnt move.

got it all installed today!! after a jump start it turned over but wouldn't start and then just as it started to cough a little into life it sprung a mahosive oil leaf from between the oil cooler and the bracket it's bolted to!