Cylinder head shims- any experiences using them?

Six thousandths of an inch is only going to slightly bump up compression....

I use to mill BMW heads ten thousandths when adding a high lift cam and headers !!!!
 
if its a good engine re-builders like i use it wont be any problem . there is at least one federation of master builders here that you can rely on .. no idea how it is in other countries .
 
i use wellseal on gaskets. no idea if available outside of the uk . rolls royce developed so has to be good stuff .

I use Wellseal and Hylomar.No idea if it's avalable through civilian channels,as mine came through friends in the aviation industry.
 
as someone who drove shitbox cars for 25yrs (last owner before junkyard)
.008, that is nothing, head gaskets from different manufactures can vary in thickness more than this.
clean the block, head and slap it together.....driver till she blows, you might get lucky and get a few yrs of transport for cheap....
 
arts, Hylomar is the best sealant I have ever used. I have used it on machine tool transmission cover plates and have had to pull the cover plate off after filling with oil to make an adjustment. Drain oil, pull cover plate and make adjustment. Refit cover plate without disturbing the Hylomar sealant and refill. Never a leak.
Problem is that I can't buy it in the USA anymore. They changed the formula and it's gritty and half dry even when new. A tube used to last years, now a new tube is bad. I gave up on it. Pisses me off.

BillWojo
 
as someone who drove shitbox cars for 25yrs (last owner before junkyard)
.008, that is nothing, head gaskets from different manufactures can vary in thickness more than this.
clean the block, head and slap it together.....driver till she blows, you might get lucky and get a few yrs of transport for cheap....
Same here. I won't spend a lot for a nice car just to run it in that shit they dump on the roads in the winter.

You are right, though. 8 thousandths is damn little. I may just go without the shim and hope for the best. How many people really do a head job and go to the trouble of sourcing and using a shim? Not many, I bet. Google sure didn't bring up hardly any results. I may spend an extra hour on it and do it "right" by checking the clearance with some clay/play doh on top of the pistons.



Sorry for the going back and forth/annoying indecision, guys. Although I am a little out of practice, I really am a decent general mechanic. It was actually my job for a several years and has always been my personal hobby and way to save money. This is just something I have never run into before, and I hate to make a bad choice. They also claim I have Asperger's Syndrome, so I tend obsess over dumb shit. I am also just cheap/poor.:)
 
Two steps forward, one step back. I picked up the head and shim, cleaned the block, sprayed the copper Permatex on the shim, and set the head in place. Then I went to put the new head bolts in, and they were wrong.:rolleyes: A sealed Felpro box with the right part number, but with completely different head bolts in it. They don't even match their picture on Rockauto's site. I ordered a set from Autozone and boxed the wrong ones up to go back for a refund.
 
I am also just cheap/poor.:)

Nosir,not cheap/poor; the proper term is ''thrifty due to underfunding'':p

Two steps forward, one step back. I picked up the head and shim, cleaned the block, sprayed the copper Permatex on the shim, and set the head in place. Then I went to put the new head bolts in, and they were wrong.:rolleyes: A sealed Felpro box with the right part number, but with completely different head bolts in it. They don't even match their picture on Rockauto's site. I ordered a set from Autozone and boxed the wrong ones up to go back for a refund.

Ah frig,it never ends,does it!? Sigh....I know how you feel Beat;)
 
Back in the 90's the garage I worked at in Iowa we became local Chrysler 2.5 and 2.2 head experts. I have seen those heads warp and snap the cam in two when it locks em up. When we sent a rebuild-able head out for machining we always used a shim with Fel Pro gaskets, new bolts and we never had a single one come back. I would not worry about using the shim if the deck is ok I think you will be golden.
 
these 'tight' cams...if the head warps so bad that you MUST line bore the cam bosses - you need a new head...or at least a 'proven part' (used)
 
Well, I had it running for about 20 minutes. It got up to operating temperature and the fan kicked on and off. No leaks that I see. The lifters made some noise at first, but cleared up after a few minutes.

I had to do a few wiring repairs. The coil pigtails were broken, so I replaced them with new ones. The pigtail to the speed sensor was hacked off for some reason, and a different one with non-matching wire colors was poorly spliced on, and the wires at the splices were rotten.:rolleyes: I grabbed a pigtail and sensor from the junkyard, and swapped out the pigtail, but the speedo was dead. It turned out that the sensor was bad too. Good thing I grabbed it.

The only problem now is the battery and brake light are coming on, and then going off after the RPMs go up. As soon as I find my meter, I am going to make sure it is charging.

I am cautiously optimistic. Hopefully I lucked out and it will be OK.
 
The first little bit of lifter noise occurs while they pump back up,which can take some time until you fill the galleries and get oil back up to the head.So long as it stops,all good!

Ain't electrical fun? Some cars,the brake warning light comes on when the parking brake is engaged.Charge light may just be due to a really low battery.
 
i always remove old oil from lifters when doing a head job .. squash them down in a vice to get that old crap out of them . they can take a while to jack back out but never a problem .
 
The first little bit of lifter noise occurs while they pump back up,which can take some time until you fill the galleries and get oil back up to the head.So long as it stops,all good!

Ain't electrical fun? Some cars,the brake warning light comes on when the parking brake is engaged.Charge light may just be due to a really low battery.
I hate electrical problems. I took it down the road, and it definitely has something weird going on. The brake and battery light are related, as they go on and off at exactly the same time. It runs sluggish and is throwing a code for the cam position sensor and the mass airflow sensor. I need to make sure it is charging correctly and go from there. It also has a front wheel bearing starting to make noise.

I'm going to have WAY more time and money in this POS than I had hoped for. I should have went with my first instinct and sent it to the scrap yard. UGH.:no:
 
maybe a missing or crusty ground connection. Those cause all manner of demons with electrical systems.
 
had similar electrical fault on a car recently . it turned out to be a bad connection in one of the rear light clusters .
your one sounds more like a charging fault to me .
 
your one sounds more like a charging fault to me .
According to the Kia forums, the battery and brake light coming on together usually indicates a failing alternator. I am going to pull it off and have it tested. The battery seems fine as it was fully charged and it had no problem starting another car. The alternator does look like a semi recent parts store reman unit, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's junk.
 
The alternator tested bad. I got a reman from Autozone. There went another $140.:no:

With the charging system working properly, I'll have to see which sensor codes pop back up. Those, I'll be getting from Rockauto because they are half the price. I would have gotten the alt through them, but I paid a few dollars more just to have less hassle with the warranty return if it happens to take a dump on me.
 
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