77 head gasket leak

[Oliver owner]

I had the head off my 77 for a valve grind. The previous owner had it overbored for pulling. I filled it with water today and it immediately started leaking out around the head gasket from behind the distributor to the back of the engine.

I torqued the head to 83 ft lbs following the pattern in the book. The old head bolt washers were all dished and cracked. Could they have just tightened the head until it stopped leaking? Is that even possible? It took quite a bit with a breaker bar to break them loose when I took it off. I then tightened the head to 95 ft lbs and still leaked. I then tightened it to 105 with no change.


I replaced the washers with grade 8.

 

[KL in Wi]

I bought a 70 with a tired engine. Took the head, block, rods and crank to a machine shop and told them to check everything carefully and do whatever was needed. They did a complete head job including resurfacing. I ask if the block was checked for flatness. He told me it was. I put it all together and added water. The left side looked just like your picture. I tore it apart and checked the head with a straight edge head was good. Checked the block, not good. Totally dismantled the engine and took it back. They took .010 off. That solved the problem. I did get a fair amount of cash back because of their mess

 

[oliver90owner]

(quoted from post at 13:04:23 08/14/22) I bought a 70 with a tired engine. Took the head, block, rods and crank to a machine shop and told them to check everything carefully and do whatever was needed. They did a complete head job including resurfacing. I ask if the block was checked for flatness. He told me it was. I put it all together and added water. The left side looked just like your picture. I tore it apart and checked the head with a straight edge head was good. Checked the block, not good. Totally dismantled the engine and took it back. They took .010 off. That solved the problem. I did get a fair amount of cash back because of their mess

One has to remember that wet liners need to protude above the deck. Is this engine lined or bored directly in the block?

 

[J. Schwiebert]

Did you get my e-mail?

 

[Oliver owner]

Thanks for all the responses. After pulling the head off and taking a look at it, there was some junk at the bottom of the bolt holes which prevented my tap and bolts from going all the way down.