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| Cleaning and prepping head gasket repair to put things back together- and then some.... | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 25 2011, 01:46 PM (2,396 Views) | |
| SkyAir | Apr 25 2011, 01:46 PM Post #1 |
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I am sooo bummed now! Just typed a well thought out & articulate set of questions. It was lost in a picture loading attempt fiasco & here I am starting over. This will be abbreviated....Tore the 1 liter apart to do head gasket (it blew.)---Done Of course I went farther and am replacing this, that & the other. Want to clean these surfaces the best I am capable of executing with the VERY limited resources I have available. Although on the beach, my shop is a 1 bedroom apartment & a parking spot. I, however, am blessed with extraordinary weather, the resourcefulness of MacGyver- AND a 1994 Geo Metro. With that being said, everything is now disassembled, including the head. What is the required & best accepted "surface cleanliness" for reassembly of ie.- Head, Manifolds, Hose pipes, gasket surfaces, etc.? I have found a relatively efficient process of papertowels, B-12 Chemtool, 600Grit Sandpaper & ironically, Baby Wipes. The results are decent, but slow. Can I use more aggressive sandpaper? Is B-12 safe for basically anything & everything? What the piston head covered in Carbon clean-up process (while in the car?) And- Picked up a waterpump, came with a paper gasket. Does this require RTV? Is it special RTV? One side or both? Not at all? Lastly--- How do I take a picture and place it in this post? For those that are interested: So California Waterpump- $39.99 +%9.75tax no core by Duralast Front Main Seal- $5.99 +tax Timken Resurface, Pressure test, and clean head (disassembled by me except guides) turned in 24hrs was $70.00 cash Cleaning stuff- about 30-40bucks so far (paper towels, catch pan, B-12, Simple Green...) --By being tidy, I have yet to leave 1 drop of anything anywhere. I also wear gloves and 1 crummy outfit I only share for those who are terrified of getting dirty- This CAN be done very cleanly.... Gas- $4.28/gal. That is all. My searches were thorough and others will gain from this. Think outside the box... |
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| bennie442 | Apr 25 2011, 09:15 PM Post #2 |
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B12? I'm not sure of it's cleaning ability. . I use Breakclean aerosol on all parts. As to your water pump paper gasket, no, a sealant isn't exactly necessary, but, RTV (blue or a variant there of ) is highly recommended because a paper gasket isn't always able to conform to the various thicknesses of the components that you are using. Curiosity begs the question, how did you blow the head gasket in the first place?
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| SkyAir | Apr 25 2011, 10:45 PM Post #3 |
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Not real sure which straw actually broke the camels back, but I can say dating back 12-15months ago I began experiencing very sporadic & inconsistent overheating. I went through the usuals and kept it on the road. Learned direct routes & the best way to "air-cool" became common everyday habits. Then the wife drove it and 15min later she was stranded on the side of the road. I eventually located a leaky (steamy) radiator and figured it was time to dig deep and go big--- clean & repair as much as possible. I did discover "Simple Green" today- What a marvelous product. I accomplished alot today and was even bummed the sun set on me.... All the knowledge that exists around here and only one response. C'mon y'all- chime in! The end for now |
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| Woodie | Apr 26 2011, 05:41 AM Post #4 |
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Now way in hell I would put it back together without new exhaust valves and rings. |
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| mcmancuso | Apr 26 2011, 10:32 AM Post #5 |
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Green scrub pads (dish cleaning supply) are great for general cleaning, and will not damage aluminum. Watch the sandpaper on mating surfaces, it can damage the surface and cause leaks. Personally I'd do exhaust valves and rings too, its a good preventative step. Eventually they will need to be done, and if you've got the head off its a good time to do it. |
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| LastPizzaInVegas | Apr 27 2011, 11:16 AM Post #6 |
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Welcome aboard Sky. I'm just up the highway from you and basically doing the exact same thing right now. You can check out my project thread for a few suggestions and whatnot. As for cleaning the top of your pistons you can remove them by taking off your oil pan and pushing them up through the block. Johnny Mullet has a good guide for rebuilding the bottom end that will help you out there. Just be sure to check your oil pan for any missing pieces. Good luck on your rebuild and take some pictures if you can. Edited by LastPizzaInVegas, Apr 27 2011, 11:16 AM.
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| dayle1960 | Apr 27 2011, 07:57 PM Post #7 |
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Fastest Hampster EVER
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SkyAir, how many miles on the engine? Since you live in SoCal and have the dreaded emissions test, then you need to follow the words of Woodie and mcmancuso and do a ring job while you have the engine apart. If your rings go south,(in the future) and then you have the emissions test then you will be hard pressed to crack open the head and drop the bottom end to replace the rings. DO IT NOW while you are inside the engine. |
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| Bigr2009 | Apr 27 2011, 11:02 PM Post #8 |
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U should try easy-off heavy duty oven cleaner. I tried it and works wonders It's like 450 at walmart in a spray can that is yellow and the green pads ( scotch Brite) should be near by. That is wht I bought yesterday when I tore My block down. |
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| SkyAir | Apr 29 2011, 07:45 PM Post #9 |
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Okay, Okay! New rings were picked-up today. Odometer says 185,000- however, I have been the owner for 20k. I have the desire to post a fully detailed "story" of my car but I don't really l like typing... It is essentially parallel to everyone else's story & my pictures look the same as y'alls. So- Hone or not? I've discovered today it is a potentially messy process. My walls are smooth as butter & I am really only doing rings because I'd like to inspect the pistons thouroghly since I'm inside. Plus it's super easy to get there. The idea of honing is a presently unpleasant thought to be quite frank. Unanswered questions- How do I load pictures? Papergasket on water pump need rtv? Both sides? Why do I struggle with "searching" in the forum? -I search and search, then get steered by a fascinating post from another member, then it's all downhill from there! Peace--- Kid's callin' |
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| Johnny Mullet | Apr 29 2011, 08:02 PM Post #10 |
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Fear the Mullet
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Lightly hone with a medium grit ball hone. It's fast and easy! Like 15 seconds per cylinder. Upload your pics to photobucket.com and paste the code below the uploaded pic to the forum reply box like this........ [IMG]http://s75.photobucket.com/myalbum/geopic.jpg[/IMG And when you post or preview, the image will appear. Clean surfaces well and paper gasket only. Please replace the exhaust valves. If you lay the head upside down with the camshaft out and spark plug in, you should be able to pour water in the combustion chambers and no water should leak through the valves. If so, you need a valve job done. |
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| SkyAir | Apr 29 2011, 09:18 PM Post #11 |
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It took less time to tear the head apart than type questions and search the site- funny how a night will dissappear reading this forum- I have treated this experience as a learning process and because this motor can be torn apart in about 45min, and if something ain't quite right this time, next time will be that much simpler. I can say, this is my 4th metro over a 20yr span with lots of maintenance going on with those cars- however this is the first "tear the compartment apart as much as possible" approach. The concept of extremely minimal resources has also entered here as my shop is about 4sq ft. and this is essentially being accomplished MacGyver style- some crap tools and things not normally used to make car repairs. It is certain though- (for those with the "fear") It can be done. Cheaply, Cleanly & alot of Common sense & this forum. Mistakes are cheap enough should they be encountered & that it bodes well to the learning process. Thanks Johnny, y'all should know that I have been lurking for years & finally poked my head out. I will work on the image uploading and go from there- Thanks! Is photobucket the only option, what about flickr? A picture can be worth a thousand words. Until thouroughly clean, the valves all seem to possibly show an outter diameter beyond the lap. Where do I find the cheapest hone possible for a 45sec ride in my block? Is is truly messy? If so, what's the clean-up? "Clean surfaces well"--- For us critical overthinkers, that's wide open- Sand it? Wire brush it? B-12 in a paper towel? Or polish it chrome with fine compounds? I am going to end this & go search for it.... I'm out... |
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| dayle1960 | Apr 30 2011, 01:33 PM Post #12 |
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Fastest Hampster EVER
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For me flickr sucked. I like photobucket. Harbour freight has hones for about twenty bucks. There's are not balls more like sanding stones. It worked well on my cylinders. If you have the valves out now would be a good time to lap them. HF has a lapping tool for 4 by bucks. Don't forget lapping compound. Ring compressor from HF for 11 bucks. |
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| mcmancuso | May 1 2011, 01:05 AM Post #13 |
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Yes hone, I picked up a 3" ball hone from amazon IIRC for ~$26 |
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| Bad Bent | May 1 2011, 10:03 AM Post #14 |
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Facetious Educated Donkey
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For searching click on http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en and book mark it. I typed in geometroforum.com in the "Search within a site or domain: box." In the "all these words: box" I typed water pump gasket rtv and clicked Advanced Search. And I got: Is RTV needed on water pump gasket? Bad H2o pump gasket New water pump and now coolant leak; Help! About 73 results (0.09 seconds) And yes, a thin layer of RTV would be a nice addition to the gasket. |
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Just typed a well thought out & articulate set of questions. It was lost in a picture loading attempt fiasco & here I am starting over. This will be abbreviated....




. I use Breakclean aerosol on all parts. As to your water pump paper gasket, no, a sealant isn't exactly necessary, but, RTV (blue or a variant there of ) is highly recommended because a paper gasket isn't always able to conform to the various thicknesses of the components that you are using. Curiosity begs the question, how did you blow the head gasket in the first place?



9:35 AM Jul 11