FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Well , finally picked up the FE today , crank end float sorted plus a modified head gasket fitted . That Harve & Rob organised ; on the drive home (Ambient temp only around 20c) the engine temp was only 2 to 3 c difference . I have two senders in one in the normal head position & one in the bottom of the top radiator tank . When I got home one was on 72c / the other on 73 c .whereas previously the back sender would have been around 80c . I’m giving it a good run on the weekend . But I’m sure my heating probs may ( will ) be over

John,

That's good news about the head gasket.  But tell me - what needed to be done to fix the crankshaft end-float?

New crankshaft. The old one which was badly scored . I have kept it and will take some photos . They couldn’t offer any explanation , they completely rebuilt the engine only 40k ago . I think something they did wrong but obviously won’t admit it. But I’m more than happy with results of installing the new head gasket . The company that did the work have let other engine rebuild people know about the early results and none of them knew anything about the NASCO  gasket that was produced back in 1964

Great news.

I still own the dies for the gaskets, and am happy to make more runs if there is enough interest. My own stocks are zero (even dipped into the ones for my own projects to help out one of the lumpy humpy guys).

Cheers,
Harv

Harv and other members ..I will probably get a head gasket from you in time  .I have built a new engine for my car ,used Permaseal gaskets and put it aside ,ready to put in car when body is finished ..who knows how that will be long term even though it runs well now on a trolly we made up ..I am very pleased because the engine in the car is EK series..( pretty tired ) ...this new rebuild block is cast April 1958 ,nice fit for our Nov 1958 Sydney build car ,,pure co-incidence of a engine a friend offered me ..Vern ..PS most of the rust is cut out starting on the welding ...using .92mm cold rolled sheet ...

Does anyone have a spare modified head gasket I could buy : it wasn’t till i unpacked the boot of the car that I realised my second spare one I ( the ply boards Harv had sent them over to in ) was not there .the engine rebuilders say they are trying to find it . I should not have taken the two of them over . If you get to read this Harv the manager of that place told me he would put in a sizeable order in to help make it viable for another run , if that’s something you wanted to do ?  He gets to do grey motors every now and then , cheers John BM

John,

I've got a few squirreled away, and I could probably spare one.  Or I could show you what to do with sheet Teflon and a pair of scissors . . .

I'm doing WA Road Trip Ten ('64, '68, '72, '77, '84, '95, '06, '12, '15) in September, so I could bring over a modified head gasket (as well as a prototype phased-array feed for the Murchison Roadhouse).

Rob

Rob , that would be great if it can be arranged , my preference would be for the made up gasket . I m a born worrier in that if something happens down the track at least I’ll have a spare. And that would see me out , thanks 🐌🍺

There's a fair bit of interest in getting another run done. The only thing that puts me off is that it is pretty time consuming... my EK wagon project has taken more than a decade to finish because I keep getting distracted  ::).

Perhaps I'll post to each of the early Holden forums again, and see if we can get enough to make it work.

Cheers,
Harv

Harv, if it helps I can confirm six head gaskets , if it goes ahead , word is spreading of it’s merits . Regards John BM .

No worries John. The real kudos goes to Rob, who did all the legwork (and science) to show they work.

I've started a new nomination thread in the For Sale section (and also similar threads on the FX/FJ, FB/EK, EJ/EH and Aussie Rodder forums). Please make a post on one of those threads so that I don't lose your nomination.

Cheers,
Harv (deputy apprentice gasket scraper).

Thank you Rob& Harv 🍺🐌

 I have an original modified head gasket, [for use in extreme conditions],  as supplied by NASCO in the early 60's.... still in original packaging with instructions.  This item will be available on my "trade table" @ the Vic's Auction 18th August.  Kevin.

I now have the modified head gasket fitted , with results so far more than encouraging, the people who did the work say I don’t have to , or should say they don’t have to re tension the head  studs after say 1000 k as you would have done years ago , tappets yes they have advised to do them ,is there anyone knowledgeable out there who can verify this ? It’s called double torquing? Thanks in advance 🍺🐌

John,

I don't think you have to re-torque the head bolts.
Well, I haven't in the last handful of motors I've rebuilt, and haven't had any trouble yet.

But the most important things are matched mating surfaces and clean threads.

Rob

To the best of my knowledge, AA Gaskets uses their OneTorque technology on the modified gaskets, and the do not need to be retorqued. I have sent an email to AA Gaskets to confirm, and will post the results here.

Cheers,
Harv

Feedback from AA Gaskets is that the modified head gasket is NOT a single-torque gasket, and that it should be tensioned as per normal practices.

From my reading of the FE/FC workshop manual, there is no reference to re-torquing head gaskets after run-in (i.e. that a single torquing during assembly is appropriate).

Cheers,
Harv

Thanks for that , Rob & Harv ,