VII serie head gaskets

[davidwheeler]

I am about to have made some new head gaskets for Sheila, my VIIth torpedo from Oz.    I have cut a very careful template on the early Consortium cast iron head (machined in Oz I guess) which matches the new aluminium one I have on Boot (the VIIIth Weymann) to within a mm or so, and then carefully eased it out to take account of Sheila's 79.7mm(!) bore.  This will be used to make a tool to cut reinforced carbon material of 2.5mm thickness which will then be lined with copper around the bores and the oil hole.  This lining should reduce the bore by a mm or so and should allow for a little compliance.   One of the problems that I have unearthed is that there is only 2-3mm overlap of the head on the cast iron liner at the side of the bore opposite the valve cutout.  This is the critical place for sealing the compression into the cylinder especially if there is corrosion between liner and block.

I think that these gaskets should be suitable for all cars of 80mm or less of VIIth  series as they are based on the head not the block.   I know the actual bores wander a bit when re-bores have taken place but there should be reliable sealing betwixt liner and head.  If necessary I will be able to send a template.

I wonder if the combustion chambers on VIIth cars were smaller?

The cost is likely to be in the order of £35 each so if you are interested, please email me asap and I will let you know in due course if the gasket is suitable and have a batch made up.   They are to be made by Dobson's Gaskets who have given me very good service in the past.

David

[davidwheeler]

It has taken a long time but I have got there at last, the gaskets arrived last week.     I have had made type 78 (VII series) and type 79 (VIII series).    This is a copy of a letter to Tony Stephens.

Dear Tony

I have been engaged in negociations with E Dobson (Gaskets) Ltd for the past few months to obtain some LAMBDA HEAD GASKETS.   We have been successful and I have just taken delivery of 4 off type 78 and type 79 gaskets.     The type 78  have been made to be an exact fit to the aluminium cylinder heads (taken from the blueprint) and are suitable therefore for bores up to 80mm.  The type 79 are to fit my own VIIIth series car bored out to 86mm which is as far as possible!  With a sound block face (after cold metal spraying) these gaskets will suit all cars with Consortium heads of bores in excess of 80mm.     They are made in compressed graphite.  The co-inventor of this material lives next door to me and she said it was developed for use in diesel engines.  I have already used gaskets in this material and it does not fail at the face (my blocks have failed but not the gaskets).    I have used quite thick material  (3mm) which is marginally thicker than copper/asbestos to allow for the machining of my block surfaces but it does come thinner.   The bores and oil holes are copper lined.  The design is in their computer and the gaskets are laser cut and utterly consistent.   They have cost me £41.50 for the type 78 and £34.50 for the type 79 ex-VAT.  This presumably takes account of the development costs which were expended mainly on the type 78.

Members can order direct by quoting Lancia Lambda type 78 or 79 but it strikes me that it may be worth the Consortium getting some batches made.  I guess a favourable price could be had for a suitable sized batch.   It is a long time since the Consortium supplied head gaskets (for reasons that were never entirely clear).   

Dobson's are an old and well established firm and presumably will be around for quite a while but these days you never know...
> http://www.dobsongasket.com/

Not the best photos I should have climbed a ladder and taken them from further away but they do fit!  I could send a sample if you wish.

I'll post this on the forum as well (not putting you under any pressure!)

David Wheeler


The head honcho is Brian Goodall, David and Andrew do the Vintage gaskets.