Blown top gasket

[benet]

Hi Guy, yes i suppose your right about the head heating using a heat gun. Ultimatly though it must be about having an even and well distrubuted temp that equals the running temp. I have no idea how close i got to that ideal with my heat gun, I suspect not very close. I was trying to shortcut not having to remove the rocker covers again. The reason i'm not wanting to remove the rockers is (a) the time/labour involved  and (b) the rocker cover sealing issue. I have had the head side of the rocker sealing face planed and faced the rocker covers on a sheet of glass. At this stage i am not certain wether the solid copper gaskets are better or the paper ones, i am also trying to avoid having to use a gasket sealer as it's really messy when using the pushrod tool. regards Ben   

[Triton Thrasher]

Ah yes. On my own Triumph, the studs stick out through the covers, which can bring problems of its own, such as more progressive crush, incurring more retorqueing.

[bsa-bill]

torque settings for head bolts are surely for a cold head ?, the idea of pulling them down again is to allow for settling down and slackening running ( hot and cold cycles ), the torque setting remains the same

[Butch (cb)]

Roger at Cake St does runs though several heat cycles and retorquing on the bench before putting the rocker box on. Means his customers don't have to retorq after he's delivered the bike to them. I'm at 3k miles from one of his builds, still going OK. Don't know what method he uses for the heat cycling though.

[bsa-bill]

Yes - what I mean is it's a cycle cold to hot and back to cold then re torque when cold
Sounds like he's a good bloke to have at hand