Head gasket fitment?

[boogiedude]

I'm in the process of changing my head gasket, and it seems like the new one slightly different than my old one. Namely, all of the holes seem to be spaced slightly farther apart than my old one. If i line up the hols at the front of the block, the ones in the back end up ~1-2mm too far back. Same about the front if i line up the back, or if i line up the center, both front and back are off. And if i place the gasket on the dowels, the gasket bows up pretty dramatically in the center. Is this gasket trash or what?

[spiderrey]

What size engine r u working on?

[boogiedude]

1800

[maytag]

it sounds like you have the wrong gasket for your motor.
Someone else can chime in about bore-spacing between the years / motors... but your 1800 should have the same bore spacing as the 2L, and I think it's that same as the 1600 as well. ????

[So Cal Mark]

the 1592, 1800 and 2.0 all use the same gasket

[boogiedude]

Well I went ahead and tried installing the head hoping that the gasket would press into place properly

Car started and seems to run just fine, there is some smoke coming out the rear but because its nearly 10pm I cant tell if it is gray or white. It doesn't smell sweet like burning antifreeze, and also seems to hang in the air like smoke as opposed to the steam burning antifreeze would make.

The oil in the cam box appears a bit brownish even though it is fresh, but I also cant tell if it is because of residual bad oil/coolant that was in the galleys or if it is leaking or something. I'll have to change it to fresh oil tomorrow morning and check the color of the smoke.

I'll report back



Oil:

Photo_F6CA2539-04BA-A1AF-C391-0641C6AF5758 by boogiedude, on Flickr


Gasket bowing:

WP_000358 by boogiedude, on Flickr

[majicwrench]

Nothing wrong with that gasket "bowing", and from what I can see in the pic it looks like it matches the holes in the block OK.
The oil does look milkshakey.
keith

[maytag]

Nothing wrong with that gasket "bowing", and from what I can see in the pic it looks like it matches the holes in the block OK.
The oil does look milkshakey.
keith

Keith, teach me something here....
Why is the bowing of that gasket okay? All the motors I've built, I've NEVER seen a gasket bow like that. As a matter of fact, I've seen them go the other way on occassion, but understood that the compression of the gasket would help "expand" the spacing. I can't imagine what must be happening to those gasket surfaces as you try to compress a gasket that is too large (spacing).

Now, again, I'm not a Fiat guy. I've actually yet to comlete my first Fiat motor. But 've built a hell of a lot of motors over the years, with iron, alu and even mag head and block scenarios. I've never seen this. So what am I up for when I start re-assembling my 2L? Is this normal on the Fiat for some reason?

[spiderrey]

Ive built a number of fiat motors and havent come across this either.

[majicwrench]

Bowing, i suppose it depends on if the gasket is bowing from actually being too long, and being "bowed" till it fits over the dowels, or if it is just slightly warped. If you could press down gently on that gasket and get it to lay flat, there is nothing wrong there. I have seen a zillion (OK not that many) head gaskets that did not lay flat.

Reassembling your 2.0?? It's just a motor, no diff from most of the others. And I aint no Fiat expert, I would bet it has been 20years since I did a Fiat head gasket. Back in the 70s there were a lot of these cars around, and a lot of timing belt failures, and a lot of bent valves. Made good money keeping em moving.
Keith

[sawmkw]

I just gone done installing a 2L head gasket and it laid flat on the block. I'm not saying yours is wrong, but mine did not bow with the guides in place.