Re: Oil smoke
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2014 8:17 pm
There are two schools of thought about fitting seals to exhaust valve guides. One says the pressure in the exhaust will tend to stop the oil coming down the guide, and therefore don't fit them. In my (limited) experience running 12G1805 heads with bronze exhaust guides if they are not fitted then oil consumption goes up quite a bit when the oil gets hot. When I stripped one head recently without exhaust seals the back of the exhaust valve was well coked up, looked like it was just trickling down the stem and then coking.
With a 1330 I was running a couple of years back there was visible film of oil on the back of the car near the exhaust, but never any signs of oily plugs, again I think it was just going down the exhaust guide and out the back. Side benefit - the RC40 has been on it for over 25 years and still no signs of rusting out...
Why recommend putting the used seals on the exhaust? Bit of a compromise really, as I would like a small amount of oil to reach the exhaust guide rather than having it run dry. I have done this to a head about 6 months back, and results seem good so far. With the next one I may try cutting a very narrow slot in the exhaust stem seal and see how this goes.
With a 1330 I was running a couple of years back there was visible film of oil on the back of the car near the exhaust, but never any signs of oily plugs, again I think it was just going down the exhaust guide and out the back. Side benefit - the RC40 has been on it for over 25 years and still no signs of rusting out...
Why recommend putting the used seals on the exhaust? Bit of a compromise really, as I would like a small amount of oil to reach the exhaust guide rather than having it run dry. I have done this to a head about 6 months back, and results seem good so far. With the next one I may try cutting a very narrow slot in the exhaust stem seal and see how this goes.