Cylinder head questions.

[Brigsy]

Got this given yesterday, i initially thought it was a n/a head but it measures at 73.5mm. Has some weird plate bolted to it & dowels that i cant remember seeing on any other heads. Excuse the poor camera phone pics..



Had to unbolt it to see if it was hiding any nasties, Holes are tapped properly.



Valve springs look different but i presume o.e?



On the plus side the mating face is in good shape, no det marks & looks a lot better than in pics. Plug holes are ok. No idea if its like a banana though need to get the straight edge on it. Also looks like it has extensive flowing done to inlet ports.

Any opinions on the dodgy plate? To me it looks like its a load of rubbish..if its straight is it worth a look, As the van head needs a plug hole heli-coiling & stud removing, also valve guides.

[Scoff]

I remember a conversation I had with ian nixon years ago, he told me he sometimes used to bolt a strip of steel inplace to help stop the gasket pushing out of the back of the cylinder head. Could that have come from an ep car ?

[Brigsy]

Possibly scoff, it was in a big box of random crap in the boot of a gtt my mate recently bought. Do the valve springs look like o.e? they have a slight trace of red on one edge...

Are the dowels original? its been at least 4 years since i took a head off a gtt

[Scoff]

Yeah, I rekon those dowels look a little odd, probably no harm in them, they'll be there to stiffen the gasket up along with the strip. I'll put money on it being from ep

springs look normal to me, but hey it's been a couple of years nearly since I did anything to a c1j too

[Sparkie]

dodgy dowels and that strip are 100% EP.
i did a headgasket years ago on an EP customers car, and it looked exactly like that.

the red paint on the springs is OE mate.

[Scoff]

so you can bet that the headwork is ep too

[Brigsy]

Might give it a go if its straight as it was free. Ive got a feeling the one off the van wont be too pretty when i pull it off, the h/g has been weeping onto the block for years next to the water pump

While were on the subject of valve springs, Cheapest place for a set of piper springs? Im popping a lairy cam in soon

[Sparkie]

Cheapest place for a set of piper springs? Im popping a lairy cam in soon

Piper.....?

[Brigsy]

Thought they didn't sell direct to public. Will chance my arm tomorrow.

[Sparkie]

they certainly do sell to public. 01303 245 300

[Brigsy]

Ordered a set today, £50+vat so not too bad

[Brigsy]

Checked the head properly tonight, Its well within the tolerance, to be fair i was shocked. Think ill slap it on, if it turns out to be crap its only the cost of a gasket.

[THE MASTER]

food for thought . perhaps the dowls are there top line things up (there not std)
perhaps for gas flow on a ported and matched manifolds

[Matt Cole]

Im shocked at that dodgy motaquip oil your keeping Brigsy!!

[Brigsy]

Not mine so not guilty But if its going spare could slip a bit in the old c1j