hey guys.

as some of you know one of my minis will be supercharged very soon!

im not doing anything else to the motor for now as its quite recently been built.

however i will be putting in a copper headgasket to lower the compression a little, and to cross 1 thing of my list that im worried about breaking.

what gasket do people suggest?

and also any tips hints/ tricks, for taking off the head, bearing in mind the car is still full of fluids?

should i dump coolant as best i can, tehn deal with whats left when its off?

how should i store the head/ block until i put the new gasket on and finish teh build!

cheers jamie

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-jamie-
1963morris 850
1965 solid side van
1994 rover racecar

Dump your coolant.

Fill the bores with clean rags and put a shopping or rubbish bag over it. Just try and keep the head and block as clean as you can.

When you pull the push rods out give them a good wiggle so you dont drag up your cam followers and then have another job to do.

Have you thought about using a decompression shim? Or will the copper head gasket let you obtain your compression ratio?

Make sure you replace your bypass hose. And check that fitting in the head doesnt need replacing. They corrode quite badly.

Matt

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I would not use a copper gasket the composite gaskets are much better nowedays. Depends on what size engine you have if a 1275 use a metro turbo gasket if small bore just a standard composite gasket is all I used on my 998 and never had any issues. If you want to decompress it you will need a decompression shim because you can't buy a thicker standard gasket can have them made though.

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4efte powered Clubman
supercharged 998 race car

Copper head gaskets will fail quickly.

They no longer contain asbestos and they will only last about a very short time before blowing. They are rubbish.

If you use one and you blow a head gasket we have the right to take the piss out of you. You have been warned.

They are easy to reconise..they are Black with a Blue Trace dont trust anything but

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Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

If you are wanting to run larger boost a simple head gasket change probably wont do. Have you fitted lower comp pistons. One thing you can do is to have a machinist cut out a1mm solid copper "gasket" out of copper plate. have this annealed (made soft) You can then run a gasket either side of the copper plate no problem. When I rebuilt the blown engine it was originally running low comp pistons but would only run to 14psi without detonation. I had this done and increased the chambers on the head. Raised the boost to 21psi without problems. Dont recommend this sort of pressure unless you have spent some money on the bottom end.

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1970 Cooper S ex-Bathurst & ATCC
1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
1968-71 ex-Peter Manton Shell car

What can you do to the bottom end to make it stronger for higher boost?

Line bore, balance, radius correctly the journals, crack test, new main and big end bolts, check clearances properly, blue all rotating components, tuftride crank after grind, lighten, balance and crack test rods, decent forged pistons, check clearance, ring gaps properly etc etc the list is enourmous......

Mad Mk 1 I have a second head that was designed to go with the original engine with that blower setup. Highly modified genuine cooper s head. PM me if interested or head will be modified for NA motor fairly soon.

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1970 Cooper S ex-Bathurst & ATCC
1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
1968-71 ex-Peter Manton Shell car

Depends on the build though too. 10psi on 9.5:1 isnt an issue... blowing head gaskets isnt always due to the boost, it can be that the head and block are not dead flat... or that its overheating (yes boost doesnt help that, but)

Ben and I both run the head gasket Kev (Dr Mini) mentioned, its got the fire ring etc etc. I bent valves before I blew a head gasket

What boost is this thing going to run??

Peter

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