Mono block heads wear out?

[high time]

Who would'a thought. Yes, I had the lugs between the domes and the head wear to the point that the dome would not press firmly onto the cylinder. Then the O-ring would burn, or there was a pressure leak into the coolant when cold. I'm not a genius, so it took me a while to figure this out. I had never heard of this before.

Owen

 

[snailbait]

Owen,
Found out my head got warped, so it wouldn't seat right. I took it to a local machine shop, and they put in on a "lap" machine, it works great now. Had them do the domes too, just to be sure. She works like a champ now.
Late in the season she was a little doggish last year...pulled the power valve cables and one was completely stuck...only running one valve!
Got it fixed, and she works great now. Just waitin on an adapter so I can get my m1000 recoil installed...

 

[DCAMPBELL]

warped head

you can also take a peace of fine sand paper to a piece of glass and then slide your head back and forth on the sand paper, make sure you aply even pressure to the head. you will be able to tell when it is even by looking at the surface, this works well.

 

[high time]

Sorry but that's a bad thing on mono-block heads.....

I know from experience. When you lightly plane down a dome, you are actually loosening the head, since the mono head cap is pressing down on the dome and now it is looser than you started with. If you blew gaskets before it will make it worse. The cap that goes over the top of the domes will need to be planed down too. In my case I don't think the hold down lugs are worn the same and I realy don't think I can salvage the whole set up.

Am I the only one who has had this problem?

Owen

 

[1Mike900]

I assume it is in the engine design? It should have been a mono block design head to begin with! The engine is trying to spred itself apart and the case is taking all the load. Now you are sharing it and you are seeing the load that is imposed. Now I see why Cutler has an extra bolt added to his design on ea. head. If it is a RKT head I would ask him for a solution, maybe a little extra torque on bolts or beefed up surface areas to spread the load? Also this is why cranks go out and cases crack in certain areas? It can only twist so many times before fracture.

Mike