Cylinder Head...kaput

[billwill]

You recall that tale that starts "For want of a nail a shoe was lost"

My Elan has been through that...
About two years ago I overheated the cylinder head because I hadn't noticed that the seal in the water pump had gone and the engine was losing LOTS of coolant. By the time I noticed it, the coolant was boiling of course, which meant there was probably no coolant in the head.

... for want of a seal the water was lost '...

I limped home having to put more water in the radiator about every 10 miles...

Later I fitted a new water pump (I now have the externally changeable module type) and all seemed OK, But later that year I was getting water in the oil & water being drivien out of the cooling system by gas pressure, eventually I was getting the dreaded "White smoke exhaust" (actually steam) showing that water was getting into the chambers.

I hoped of course that it was just a head gasket leak with the head having been distorted a teeny bit by the heat, but such was not the case, I got Rob Morley of Protune in potters bar to have a good look at it (mostly because Rob had done a lot of work on that engine when he worked for Vegantune (finchley) back in 1995.

Rob found the chambers 1 and 2 had hairline cracks and that 3 & 4 might be porous. So at great expense the cracks were welded and the water chamber resin sealed. So I got my car back and all seemed well, though for other reasons I was having starting difficulties, that I might have mentioned on this forum before.

However in June 2009 on my way down to a family meeting I had gone barely a mile before I realised it was emitting white smoke again, so suspecting the worst, I crawled home again. Taking out the plugs showed water in cylinder 3.

So this time I took the head off myself & indeed there was a crack in chamber 3.. So I passed it to Rob again, who warned me that fixes like this often crack again. But he & his subcontractors did weld up chamber 3 for me with some difficulty. Due to other non-car activities I didn't get around to collecting the head until early February this year and Rob warned me that if it cracked again it would need a new head as further repairs would not be practical.

Since then I have been slowly reassembling the engine finding that I had to go forwards & backwards twice over some things. i.e I got the head back on and then realised that the timing chain had worn too much and when tensioned correctly was cutting into the water pump housing, so it all had to come off again to fit a new timing chain.

So I got all that back almost ready & realised fuel was dripping out of the carbs, which I had cleaned up but re-used the old gaskets & pump diaphragm, so it was carbs off again , buy proper refurb kit from Burtons & spend Easter weekend patiently cleaning carb jets & passages.

Finally I got it all reassembled to the point of starting the engine today, It started fairly easily considering that the Idle jet settings are probably all wrong, so at least I seem to have fixed the poor start problem, but alas shortly afterwards "White smoke" from the tail and the coolant is under pressure though still cold.

Dreading it, I took the plugs out and cylinder 3 had lots of coolant in it, so it looks as if it cracked again.

So I'm now most despondent. It looks as if I will have to get another cylinder head and finances don't allow that at present.

All in my opinion for the want of a water-pump seal...

So fellow Twin-Cammers, keep a beady eye on coolant levels and on that little drip hole under the water-pump.!!!

You have been warned.

===================

Anyone got any ideas on my best actions from now on. Anyone got a spare head they don't want? Can I relatively easily fit a cheap Ford head temporarily to get the car going while I save up for a proper Twin Cam head?

Are QED replacement heads better than Burton heads or are they actually the same anyway?

[Frank Howard]

Bill,

Sorry to hear of your sad situation.

I purchased my first car, a 1964 TR-4 in January 1970. When we went to look at the car the owner's wife told us that her husband was out driving it and would be back in a flash. Minutes later, he appeared and as he got out of the car, he opened the bonnet and showed us that the radiator cap was loose. He warned me not to tighten it as this would lead to overheating problems. The man wanted $450 for the car so I offered him $400 and he took it. Imagine that. Buying a 6-year old sports car for $400.

Soon after we got it home, we took it to our local service station. As it was winter, the mechanic suggested that the car be left in his heated garage for the day so that if there was any frozen water in the cooling system, it could be drained and replaced with antifreeze. We picked up the car that evening and the next day I took it to my high school. All was well until I looked in the rear view mirror on the way home and could see nothing but a white cloud of smoke.

That led to my first lesson in auto mechanics; changing the head gasket. Once we resurfaced the head and changed the gasket, we started the car and it immediately put out a cloud of white smoke. That led to another head gasket change followed by more white smoke. My neighbor suggested that his friend Gil have a look as Gil was a professional diesel mechanic. I still remember when Gil took his first look at the car. He got a kick out of seeing the size of the cylinders as he was used to working on 8 and 10 litre diesel trucks. Anyway, it didn't take Gil long to find the problem. He told us that even though we torqued the head down per the specifications in the workshop manual, he didn't believe that we had torqued it sufficiently. He instructed us to find a tap and die set to run over the head bolts and down the bolt holes in the block.

Is it possible that you are getting false reading on your torque wrench because the threads are screwed up? That's what happened to us. Once we followed Gil's advice and retorqued the head, the engine ran perfectly without a trace of white smoke.

If that doesn't work, I have a plan B if you're interested in a Stromberg head.

[alexblack13]

Hi Bill All,

Tell you what Bill... If I manage to get a 'donation' for the manual I am trying to auction in the for sale bit and also get anything (again destined for charity donation) for the turnbuckles mentioned also, I will change the donor to your Elan.

So keep your fingers crossed. I am more than happy to help keep your car on the road.

I will post the intention on the for sale bit..

Come on guys... Anyone help here. Keep another Elan mobile over the summer months..??? As I said I will give some help to start the ball rolling..

Alex.....

[512BB]

Oh dear Bill

I was thinking only a few days ago, that you had not posted for a while, now I know why. Sorry to hear of your tales of woe, and clearly your problems have been keeping you awake at night, judgeing by the time of your post.

A couple of thoughts spring to mind. Two years ago, at the Donington Lotus Show, there was a company called CTM or CTC or C something or other. They had a head on their stand, together with before and after pictures of the head, showing the work they had carried out on it. If you had seen the pics, you would have thought that the head was TOTALLY F.C.ED! Throw it away. There were LARGE pieces of metal missing, cracks all over the place, and you could only have used it as a talking point when your mates came round.

Well, that head, which was on show, had been repaired, new metal added, and looked like NEW, apart from where extra fillets of metal had been left, inside the spark plug well, for strength. The head was owned by Brian Buckland, and at that stage, had not been put back on a car, as Brian was collecting it from the company, as they had only just finished the work on it. So it would be very interesting to learn Brians thoughts as to how that head is shaping up. I know a few on here are friendly with him. Perhaps they can advise. Or failing that, if I see him at Malvern, I shall ask him what of the head.

However Bill, if you do not go down that route again, and dont feel like throwing good money after bad, be careful. I am sure Ebay springs to mind as a source for a replacement head. Personally, I would be very wary of buying a TC head unseen, from a private seller. All TC heads are at least 30 years old now, and most have had a hard life, have been worked on by incompetants, not to mention having the life skimmed out of them. You will pay a good price for one rebuilt by an expert, but it will save you in the long run. Look out for any heads that come up under the Ebay name of NS Engineering. Nick Stagg is without doubt an expert in this field, as I am sure many will testify. I have no connection with him, other than having purchased and chatted to him on many occasions.

What ever you do Bill, good luck and keep us posted.

Leslie

[bcmc33]

Leslie,

The company you referred to is CTM (http://www.ctmperformance.co.uk/)

I was impressed by their exhibition samples and put them on my favourites list for possible future reference.

[billwill]

Thanks for all your commiserations.

I'd not be inclined to go for any head on eBay from 'unknown' supplier, though I might go for a whole engine if it was in running condition but cheap (most unlikely anyway, I suspect).

The QED website spiel on their new heads looks good & one could get it setup for unleaded fuel too. But I'll have to save my 'pocket money' for a long time.

I've got a spare original Lotus Elan differential I could sell, I wonder how much that might be worth. Now I wish I had bought the whole engine from that crashed Lotus I found (long ago) in a breakers yard (&), but it was in a sorry condition, the crash had pushed back the carburettors and had sheared through all 4 of the inlet manifolds on the head. Then I was too naive to realise that that kind of breakage can be welded up as good as new.

(&) from where I got the diff presently on my car.

[billwill]

Frank,

I'm pretty sure this is not just the head gasket, though won't be completely sure until the head is off again.

But after sucking out the water from cyl 3 with an old turkey baster type thingy and drying it, I could see through the plug hole that water was still getting into the cylinder and I could even see drips splashing down towards the centre of the piston. This tends to rule out head gasket problems, because I think if water was getting in that way it would run down the edges of the cylinder.

A Stromberg head might be a possibility though of course I would have to get new carbs and make a bulge in the bonnet. Not an easy thing to do really neatly.

[Frank Howard]

Bill,

If I were you, I'd consider finding another Weber head or going the Z-Tec or Duratec route. Good luck.

[zog]

Anything is repairable.... You just need to find the right shop to repair it.

[bcmc33]

Anything is repairable.... You just need to find the right shop to repair it.

Aluminium (and other metals) can be reliably repaired - it's all in the preparation.

Bill, bring it over and I'll do the job for you as a favour. However, remachining will be down to you.

[billwill]

That's a very generous offer from you, which I will bear in mind.

I think considerations of repair versus replace will have to wait until I get the head off again. It's puzzling that it could have cracked so quickly after repair by a reliable firm. Maybe it has cracked in a different place or maybe it is just the head gasket after all.

Anyway, I'm inclined to take a break from working on the Elan as I have so many other things I need to do, so it will be a short while before I get around to taking the head off yet again.

[CBUEB1771]

:Are QED replacement heads better than Burton heads or are they actually the same anyway?

Bill - The QED and Burton TC heads are not the same. Both eliminate the iron liners for the cam follower bores but the Burton heads (made by SAS Engineering) also eliminate the shell bearings for the cams. With these heads the cams run directly in the aluminum bores. There was a bit of discussion about this feature several months ago. I would not hazard an opinion on which is better with seeing flow bench data, alloy specifications, etc. New heads are also being made in the US and available through Dave Bean Engineering.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Hi Bill,

I feel sure that you paid good Money for the last repair.
Get the Head off the Engine to check the damage then go back to the Workshop that did the repair & ask them how far they will bend regarding what maybe faulty workmanship or an overlooked problem.
You may have lost faith in their abilities but it must be surely the most economical solution.
A change to any alternative Engine type will be very expensive due to all of the specialised Components required to finish the job.

Good luck
John

[sevenhead]

:Are QED replacement heads better than Burton heads or are they actually the same anyway?

Bill - The QED and Burton TC heads are not the same. Both eliminate the iron liners for the cam follower bores but the Burton heads (made by SAS Engineering) also eliminate the shell bearings for the cams. With these heads the cams run directly in the aluminum bores. There was a bit of discussion about this feature several months ago. I would not hazard an opinion on which is better with seeing flow bench data, alloy specifications, etc. New heads are also being made in the US and available through Dave Bean Engineering.

These are also available in the UK from http://www.yarwoodeng.co.uk/index.asp.

LB

[john.p.clegg]

Bill

Get in quick

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LOTUS-ELAN-BIGVAL ... _500wt_975

John