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vauxhallbitz wrote: the original engine leak was discovered when I took the head off and there was water in all of the bores.

Erm.... the bores fill with water when you take the head off regardless of whether you have a head gasket problem or not, the act of breaking the seal of the gasket causes the water in the head to flow out and fill whatever recess it can find, which is usually the cylinder bores...

What was the engine like before you took the head off? What was the reason for removing the head?

Not sure which is correct, 55lb worked for me, strange how 2 different figures were given in the 2 manuals though. I had thought they would have just been quoting factory recommended figures.

OK, I am at my wits end with this engine and need help!!!!

I have rebuilt a 1256 engine and have used the head from my original engine as it is converted to unleaded. When I fitted it and torqued it down to 49 lbs as per the manual all appeared fine but when I filled the water system I noticed a leak between number 3 and number 4 cylinders.

I took the head off and had it skimmed.

Today I refitted the head and once again torqued down to 49 but still have slight seepage from the same area, this is before starting the engine so I presume it will be worse under pressure.

Could the head bolts be " bottoming out" due to the head getting skimmed, the threads are all clean and dry.

Anyone else had this problem???

have you had the head pressure tested? Have you checked for cracks in the block around the bolt holes? It is very difficult to determine the fault without seeing it unfortunately.
I would have though that a substantial amount of material would have to taken off the head for the bolts to 'bottom out' , but if you want to eliminate this from your investigations, measure the depth of a bolt hole and the the depth of your head, and compare it to one of your bolts.

Could they be bottoming out because of "stuff" in the bottom of the bolt holes? I'm not familiar with the OHV engine so I don't know how much tolerance there is for things like this.

Thanks for the replies, yes the head was pressure tested and I don't see anything visible around the bolt holes. I am going to check the bolt lengths next to see if they are too long, the head could have been skimmed before I got the car when it was converted to unleaded.

Bolt holes are clean and free from debris.

Will keep you posted.

Head back off, I have checked the bolts and they are not " bottoming out" so that is a relief.

Checked them against the technical spec on here and they do not have the same markings as any of them......

When I rebuilt mine they didn't have the marks either.

with the head fitted, where exactly is it leaking, you say its leaking between 3 and 4, is this the left side, right or cylinder to cylinder?
This is a serious leak that should be blatantly obvious, as its free to leak with zero pressure, so here's my advise.
Check block with a straight edge, compare the block water jackets to the head water jackets, check head gasket with block and head to make sure all holes line up, look carefully at the bolt holes for cracks that might open up under tension, use a sharp instrument in the bolts holes to clean out, then fit all the bolts to the block and measure all the heights from the block to underside of bolt head, then measure that distance through the head.
Was the head crack tested? identify all you water jacket holes and carefully check head/gasket/block all line up.
Is there any coolant flow through the intake manifold, is there any cor plugs in the head that could be leaking.

hope you manage to get it sorted

Thanks for this, the leak is between the head and the block directly under the holes for spark plugs 3 and 4. It happens under no pressure and is in the same pace as my old engine, the common denominator is the head but that has been skimmed and inspected so should be OK.

My friend who builds engines is going to check everything with a proper straight edge tomorrow so hopefully we will get a resolution. Watch this space!