HELP: 1973 911T rebuild-Porsche brand & Elring cylndr head gaskets not sealing well.

[wanderboy99]

Hi!

I would like to seek advice on an engine rebuild that a local shop is doing for me. The engine is original to the car, 1973 911T 2.4 with MFI, 7R case. It is was rebuilt to 2.5 displacement. Original cams retained, with numbers that indicate a T profile. Major parts replaced are the ff: cylinders, pistons, MFI bits & pcs. Two months ago, the car was actually handed to me by the shop for test drive. However it developed a cylinder head leak after about 200 miles of driving and the shop had to open up the engine again. It turned out one of the cylinder heads was off so the shop decided to replace all cylinders heads after measuring tolerances. They also decided to do threaded inserts since one of the studs didn’t torque well. New studs added as well.

Before final assembly, they leak tested the cylinders without the head gaskets first. No leaks. Then, they put the Elring gaskets. Leak down test showed a leak. Baffled, they tried the same gaskets on another engine being rebuilt, a ‘72 engine, and it too measured a leak. So shop decided to order Porsche brand head gaskets thinking it may have been a bad batch. They installed the Porsche head gaskets and unfortunately produced the same leak from the test.

I told the shop it is quite strange for 2 reputable brand of gaskets to not fit well. What the shop plans to do is have copper rings made as substitute for the head gaskets.

Here’s one of the unopened Porsche brand gaskets which shows the spring looking stretched out. Mechanic says it looks like a quality defect. Please see image beow:







My questions are:

1. What do you think of the over stretched spring on the head gaskets? Will this cause a poor fit on the cylinder head and a leak?
2. Are there known quality issues of Elring and Porsche brand head gaskets?
3. Could the ‘leak’ be caused by something else other than the head gaskets? Quality of the refurbished cylinder heads perhaps? Other causes?
4. Is substituting factory head gaskets with machined copper rings a common practice? Is it a good alternative?

I would appreciate your help on this. Thank you in advance!

Randy

[Dpmulvan]

My question, why did the shop assemble the engine without measuring and checking everything? Standard procedure. So now they’re making you pay for a tear down, new heads and assembly?? And they’re blaming it on a faulty seal?? I say find a new shop.

[wanderboy99]

[QUOTE=Dpmulvan;12053965]My question, why did the shop assemble the engine without measuring and checking everything? Standard procedure. So now they’re making you pay for a tear down, new heads and assembly?? And they’re blaming ….

The shop fully guarantees their work so this is not about the cost of rework. I would like to know the community’s opinions on the technical issues regarding cyl head gaskets.

Thank you

[wanderboy99]

Bump

[Mixed76]

I don't know about the rest but there are lots of examples of #4 to be found- copper "flame rings" installed between head and cylinder.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[wanderboy99]

Originally Posted by Mixed76

I don't know about the rest but there are lots of examples of #4 to be found- copper "flame rings" installed between head and cylinder.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

I will do more research on these “flame rings”. Thank you for your reply.

[kwikt 911]

What cylinders are you using! Just asking from experience.

[kwikt 911]