Annealing copper gaskets

[Duncan R]

Hello All,

After a long period getting all the parts together I hope to get the engine back together soon.

Would anyone know if a standard hot air gun is powerful enough to heat up the head gasket and the copper rocker box gaskets for annealing purposes?

Many thanks

Duncan

[Beezageezauk]

Hi Duncan,

The gasket will need to be heated reasonably evenly to a cherry red colour prior to quenching.  I doubt if a hot air gun would do this.

Beezageezauk.

[Duncan R]

Thanks,

I will look out for a cheap blow torch

[bsa-bill]

Even a blow torch struggles to get the hole thing to cherry red at the same time, however as copper does not need quenching this may not matter as much as long as all parts of it get to cherry red at some point.
Often wondered if a barbie would do it - anyone down under like to comment ( might taint he prawns)

[duTch]

 You two got in before me so I'll try again.....

Good call Duncan, I was doing mine today using 'Mappgas' (Propylene),I think it' a blend of something like benzene or acetylene and propane?? but gets pretty hot, and the gasket being an odd shape, I found it hard to get even 'cheery red' all over even tried different ways to hold it, never used a heat gun but I wouldn't be optimistic??
  Also  on the subject, My mate Kel pointed out that there should be no gasket protruding from the joint into the combustion chamber, reckons it'll ping terribly, consequently I spent a bit of time with the file,to ensure that it cleared the top of bore, and also on the  R/R (?)& S/R heads I noticed that there is a bit of a relief in the head for the valves , so extra whittling.
                      

[Beezageezauk]

Duncan,

The last time I annealed mine I was on a camp site in the Isle of Man.  I held it with pliers, used a little single burner camping stove and heated it one half at a time.  It worked ok for me so if you're cooking on gas at home try using a ring on your gas stove.

Beezageezauk.

[duTch]

Makes sense, I thought about it, but seemed too sensible to be easy- have a double burner, too bad the burners are too far apart for simultaneous 'firing'....I've done it before but so long ago forget which method, and today got impatient

[iansoady]

I did mine on a primus stove with a propane torch as well and it took a long time to get up to the correct cherry red colour.

Mind you that was outside with the air temperature well below zero as I didn't want to set fire to the garage....

[RichardL]

I don't actually recommend the method in this video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOul-aIO_lg ) because it seemed to leave some carbon deposits (or something) on the gasket. However, if you joined here in the last few years, you probabaly haven't seen it and might find it amusing.  I ended up using my mapp gas torch and moving over a different gasket as evenly as I could. I managed to melt a small spot on the edge of the gasket but that did not affect performance, but it is something to watch for.


Richard L.

[Goldy]

That's possibly the best way it is a struggle on a gas stove and oxy acetylene can be too hot. It needs to be cleaned with wire wool afterwards.

[a10 gf]

Here > http://www.a7a10.net/forum/index.php/topic,737.0.html is a major discussion with pictures & all.

[Duncan R]

Thanks for all your replies - I did it on a gas ring last time but it took forever, it didn't leak and I am not sure if I got even spread of heat. I might give the BBQ a go this time.

Cheers

Duncan