![]() ![]() |
The head gasket fallacy |
Many forums advocate weird tactics in ensuring that 1970s through 1980s Honda four cylinder head gaskets seal. The SOHC engines especially are known for leaky gaskets due to the oil passages that pass through the gssket. From machining the head's gasket surface to fitting oddball, non-original o-rings, forums seem to be grasping at straws. The correct technique is not a mystery to career Honda mechanics, but it seems to be to forums.
Machining the head is unnecessary. It's 1940s cast iron V8 thinking. Not only is it unnecessary, it doesn't work, and it leads to issues in the engine such as reduced performance and changes in valve-to-piston clearance. The way to get these head gaskets to not leak is first ti choose a good gasket. Athena and Vesrah are not good parts. The factory gasket, though discontinued from Honda, is available from Cometic, who is well known for reproducing Hinda's composite gasket. Take this gasket and apply two coats of Gaskacinch to each side, two hours between coats and half a day miniumum before engine assembly. This technique is so well known among mechanics it might as well be a factory procedure. In fact, in the final few years that Honda made their gaskets available, they actually pre-coated them with a sealer, very similar to what Honda shops have done for generations.
|
Last updated January 2025 Email me © 1996-2025 Mike Nixon |