Head gasket to be repaired.

As expected, Gordon's new Acquisition has a thoroughly rogered HG. An absence of coolant which had leaked away in a week and mayo in the oil filler told their own take, as did the recently removed engine cover. If I can free the crankshaft bolt today, we will get started on it tomorrow.
 

The bitch bolt gave in without the slightest struggle. Wheel off, extension bars out to an axle stand and a breaker bar augmented by six feet of t 6061-6 alloy tube which used to be a strut on an aeroplane. I pulled firmly on it and the bolt came undone. The exhaust manifold studs look like they will give up so tomorrow I would very much like to have the head off for checking. Fingers crossed.

I did my ZR H/G on a two post ramp and nearly rocked the car off it trying to undo the crank bolt  !  God it was tight  !  
John . 

I'm having trouble with the two 18mm bolts on the arm, one of which has snapped and the other is going to. I think I will have to remove the tie bar and engine mount rubber and then the mounting on the engine which I am going to drill out and either retap (fitting a stud, this time) or helicoil. The weather spoilt our fun today and the car was reassembled in case we had to chuck the towel in but I think the engine mount can be removed if the rest of the stuff comes off without removing the buttress which would make things easier, supposedly but it will be a swine to remove so I won't if I don't have to. I am guessing that a water pump can be done with it in place?

The 18mm bolts which will snap have been replaced from the company scrap bin. Result. The various bolts and nuts on the engine mounting assembly are giving in tonight and tomorrow I shall begin anew with the target being cam belt off and cam sprockets removed. I would like the cam covers off tomorrow and anything else that can be removed without a fight will make it a good evening.

I only need to go near this car and the heavens open! despite that, a good evening's work has seen the head ready to be removed. There is more than the suspicion of a leak around the inlet manifold; not into the cylinders but into the environment outside the cooling system. The mayo within the engine is not too bad but pretty evident and the cams are a couple of teeth out of phase, despite the engine running quietly and sweetly. The engine mounting bolts were the big problem but the answer was to remove the rubber mounting by removing the rearmost bolt which as fairly easy and then, levering the safety strap round, so that a 13mm ring spanner could be fitted from the side to remove the forward one. That allowed me to jack the engine so that the four bolts holding the main engine mounting bracket to the block could be removed using long extensions, out through the offside wheelarch.The big bolts will get a bit of hot spanner action tomrrow and the exhaust manifold bolts will get a quick blast to free the nuts from them. The biggie though will be the beheading. Fingers crossed the liners haven't sunk.  Once the head has been measured, we will decide what to do next. Gordon is on a tight budget so if it is a matter of needing a 20 thou head saver shim, I will do the skim on the old Bridgeport in the company machine shop. It is very rarely used for our production but the number of motorbike bits (and aeroplane bits for my homebuilt,) that it turns out is quite impressive. I haven't skimmed a head before but as long as it is well bolted down and the surface properly measured, I quite fancy my chances with a good Japanese flycutter and some white spirit as a lubricant.

It was not to be. The engine had a newish gasket and a saver shim. It was leaking pretty well everywhere.  The head had not been skimmed but the liners were more like submarines. The sinkage could be felt quite clearly with a fingertip. Game over. The car really isn't worth pulling the subframe out of so we have thrown the towel in.

Hope all you have lost is time, and not too much money.

The car sold on for what he paid for it. I liberated a better rear tub seal and the later steering wheel airbag with the badge in the middle.