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ES2 head gasket

Submitted by andy_marks on Tue, 08/07/2014
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The head gasket on my '51 ES2 has given up, loss of power and oil everywhere again (although I think a fair bit of the oil is still coming from the rocker box).

Having done some reading around it appears that the standard alluminium gaskets are prone to blowing out. So my question is; What are people doing/using in place of the standard gasket? I don't have a head gasket on my cammy Norton, the two faces are ground together with paste and this has been very succesful. Is there any reason I couldnt do this on my ES2? Or would people reccomend making a copper gasket?

Thanks in advance

Andy

Submitted by roger_deadman on Tue, 08/07/2014

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hi andy

grind the head and barrel together same as on your inter i dont use head gaskets on any of my ohv nortons

regards roger

Submitted by paul_knapp on Wed, 09/07/2014

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Thats what I wanted to do Roger, but what did you do to stop the rocker box drain holes from leaking at the head joint?

Paul

Submitted by albert_sheean on Wed, 09/07/2014

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Hi Andy,

I made a head gasket for my 19S out of "0.020" sheet copper and an exhaust gasket out of 1/8" soft copper tubing found at a plumbing supplies center. Both work quite nicely.

regards, Albert

Submitted by andy_marks on Wed, 09/07/2014

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Thanks for the replies. I like the idea of no gasket at all as this has worked very well on my Inter. But I can see what Paul is saying about the oil return. I probably won't get time to take the head off before the weekend so got a few days to make my mind up. I have entered the Norton Festival in Devon at the end of the month so hope to get it back together for that. If not I'll bring the Inter and upset the locals ;)

Submitted by andy_marks on Mon, 14/07/2014

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Going to get the head off my ES2 tonight. Roger: Any advice on sealing the oil return ways? Or has anyone else sealed them without a head gasket and able to offer some advice?

I'll also be having my third attempt at sealing the rocker box as well when I put it back together!

Submitted by ian_macdougall on Mon, 14/07/2014

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Rocker box oil returns can be sealed by machining shallow pockets in the top face of the barrel to accept o-rings. Mike Pemberton did this for my 19S. If you are leaving out the gasket check the height of the cylinder spigot against the depth of the recess in the head. Spigot height should be approx .001" higher than the depth of the recess to ensure that the compression seal is made on the spigot. You may need to skim the head to achieve this. See George Cohen's advice on this subject (Item 23 Cylinder Head Joint) http://www.norton.uk.com/expert.htm

Ian McD

Submitted by andy_marks on Mon, 14/07/2014

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I have stripped it all off and the head and barrel are a bit distorted. Only a few thou but I'll be there for a month to try and lap them in. I'll have to resort to machining both the head and the barrel.

Looks like I might be bringing the Inter to Devon...

 


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