Tri-Z head gasket leak

[pickleweasel_00]

Hi guys, I'm the proud owner of a tri-z as of yesterday. I met with Viper (Shannon) from here and got it from his friend. Anyways, I brought it home and it wouldn't start so I cleaned the carb up, put in a new plug, and filled the coolant. It wouldn't fire and the plug seemed to have coolant on it so when I took the radiator cap off, it seemed to have pressure which I don't think it should have. So I pulled the head off and sure enough, the gasket was leaking. The head didn't look like it was cracked or anything but the gasket looked suspect.

So anyways, my question is.... Is there a chance that there is coolant in the crankcase? There was some in the exhaust when I took it off and I wanted to see what you guys thought. Obviously I will want to get any coolant out of there before I put it all back together, so do I need to pull the cylinder and/or piston off to get in there? I don't want to have to split the case open if I can avoid it. Sorry this is so long winded but I want everything ion good working order before I start re-assembly

[pickleweasel_00]

Took the cylinder off too and sure enough, the crankcase had coolant in it. Can I get by with using something to suck it all out of there or is it going to have to be torn down further?

[pickleweasel_00]

any ideas?

[Bryan Raffa]

drain the oil.. if its milky the mechainal seal in the water pump is probley bad.. pull the jug off and blow out the crank area with air.. put a new base gaskit on and head gaskit.. water in the exhaust is probley from the bad head gaskit .

the only way it could get into the crankcase is the mechanical seal or a bad head gaskit with a bad right side crank seal at the same time..thats it

check you crank bearings and rod wile you got the jug off

[TimSr]

the only way it could get into the crankcase is the mechanical seal or a bad head gaskit with a bad right side crank seal at the same time..thats it

check you crank bearings and rod wile you got the jug off

I think he is talking about the crank area, and not the gearbox, and if you have coolant in the exhaust you may very well have it in the crank since oit went through the jug to get into teh pipe. Since you have to pull the jug anyways, its just a simple matter of rinsing it out. (antifreeze does not evaporate.) Flush it out with a little gas, let it thoroughy evaporate, and add a little 2 cycle oil to lube the crank bearings before reassembly. Also, TriZ heads are known for warpage, so tape a piece of fine sandpaper on a piece of glass, and sand the head sealing suface a little bit. Youll probably see grooves from steel OEM gaskets. Im a big fan of Cometic or Wiseco fiber type gaskets as replacements.

[Bryan Raffa]

tim is right the manual says 400-600 grit emery sand paper and use a figure eight pattern..

[pickleweasel_00]

Well as suspected the crank case is full of coolant too. But none in the oil, and I'm positive it was the head gasket. I tried to order a top end kit from dennis kirk ealier (Vesra gaskets I think?) But the internet was sucking and I'm not sure if it went through or not. Where would I get the cometic or wiseco gaskets? I figured whil it was apart I'll just pull the engine the rest of the way out and clean it up and paint it. Might touch up the frame too.

I did borrow a metal plate from work today (the golf course) that is used to check the reels for squareness to make sure the height is even on the rollers. Anyways, it's a perfectly flat surface and I sanded it with 60 then 220 paper and everything looked even so I'm assuming no warpage.

So what's the best gaskets to use (if not cometic or wiseco)? I don't want to have to do this on a regular basis

[Bryan Raffa]

never used wiseco... cometic, OEM, Vesrah,and Athena all good gaskits!! They all make Tri z gaskets