Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

If using Wellseal on the head gasket do you take it onto the fire rings or stop it short of them?

Cheers

Jon

Just checked - Miles says coat both sides of the head gasket with a thin, even coat.

No other guidance, so reading that I would say coat all of the gasket including the rings.

Yeah, and he also says if you've no Wellseal then just fit it dry so I'm not entirely convinced by his advice!

I've done a few head gaskets in my time (not Twinks) and never used any sealant. Have not encountered problems.

Me too but I'm using a fibrous composite Ajusa gasket not a copper one and there is evidence of slight water seepage between the waterways so I'm going with sealant this time around to protect the head

I've mostly used copper gaskets with no seals. One time I sprayed both sides with Copper Coat. Didn't have any troubles. Most of those engines I had for less than a year.

I recently fitted an ajusa gasket dry and no problems.

I think looking carefully at it they have a sealant on the edges

Steve

Hi Steve,

They have sealant on one of the ports only.

This is the second Ajusa I have used and it has been great (it's a +40 and i couldn't get copper to work) but I've split the engine after 15k miles to sort oil leaks and it's clear that there's been water seeping between water ports, though the fire rings are clean as a whistle.

This has caused very, very minor surface corrosion on parts of the head and some discolouration on the block face so I'm going to use wellseal even though I used it dry last time.