Bukh Cylinder Head Skimming Resurface Measurements

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Shutterbug

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Hi Bukh owners after many years faithful service my DV 20 has blown its head gasket.
Head is off and on the bench need help with machining measurements.
Accurate head thickness dimension from sealing surface to sealing surface to accertain if the head has been skimmed before.
The maximum amount that can be safely removed before the valve seats need to be recut.
The width of the packing grooves machined in to the head.
No measurements in the offical Bukh workshop manual.
Also I have asked Bukh UK twice.
Have scoured the internet for days to find out the above with no joy.
As thousands of ageing Bukh in use someone must have had a head resurfaced before.
Help please before the best summer for years finishes.
Cheers Shutterbug
 
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Shutterbug said:
Hi Bukh owners after many years faithful service my DV 20 has blown its head gasket.
Head is off and on the bench need help with machining measurements.
Accurate head thickness dimension from sealing surface to sealing surface to accertain if the head has been skimmed before.
The maximum amount that can be safely removed before the valve seats need to be recut.
The width of the packing grooves machined in to the head.
No measurements in the offical Bukh workshop manual.
Also I have asked Bukh UK twice but they were unable to answer the above questions.
Have scoured the internet for days to find out the above with no joy.
As thousands of ageing Bukh in use someone must have had a head resurfaced before.
Help please before the best summer for years finishes.
Cheers Shutterbug
Click to expand...

I had the cylinder head of my DV10 skimmed a couple of years ago. I can' t give the measurements you require but I had the work carried out by a company specialising in this type of work and they assured me there was suficient thickness of metal to safely skim the head.

The circular grooves machine in the head were not reinstated because I had been advised that they were no longer neccessary with the more stable type of gasket material now used; which incorporates a steel mesh. (The original head gaskets were a laminate of copper shim and fibre material).

This is the firm I used and I'd be happy to recommend them:

http://www.jdautoworx.co.uk
 
Hi Parsifal, thank you for your advice on sealing grooves and gasket change from copper to steel mesh. Learning a little more about these engines every day.
Regards Shutterbug.
 
I have a spare BUKH cylinder head in the garage (as one does), if you want me to take any measurements let me know but it is a DV10 head.
 
Hi Colhel , head has slight blow by damage adjacent to water gallery hole on number 2 cylinder . Have measured the head surface with straight edge and feeler gauge to 2 thou and seems ok. But needs resurface to remove this.
Regards Shutterbug
 
Hi Champagne Murphy, I have contacted them already in Danish with Google translators help but had no reply .
Will contact them in good old fashion english tonight again.
Regards Shutterbug
 
Shutterbug said:
I have contacted them already in Danish with Google translators help but had no reply .
Will contact them in good old fashion english tonight again.
Click to expand...

I don't think I ever met anyone in Denmark who didn't speak English fluently. Meanwhile Google has probably insulted their grandmothers in Danish. :)
 
Hi, had a reply from Bukh today and this is it.
Dear Sir,
Please refer to the information given by Bukh Diesel UK, we are unable to add anything further.
Med venlig hilsen / Best regards
BUKH A/S

And this was the information from Bukh UK
Email One.
There is only 1 thickness of head gasket available for this engine, the part number is 000E7766 they are £88.09 each + VAT and shipping.
Email Two
Please see below the reply from the factory:-
We do not have any information regarding renovating the surface on the cylinder head.
But it is cat iron, so it can´t be that damaged or oblique.

The above have been cut and pasted directly from my emails.
Fair enough some engine manufactures do offer head gaskets of differing thickness .

Factory reply not what I had hoped for. Expect cat = cast.

And yes I have bought a head gasket at that price !

Regards Shutterbug
 
Shutterbug said:
Hi, had a reply from Bukh today and this is it.
Dear Sir,
Please refer to the information given by Bukh Diesel UK, we are unable to add anything further.
Med venlig hilsen / Best regards
BUKH A/S

And this was the information from Bukh UK
Email One.
There is only 1 thickness of head gasket available for this engine, the part number is 000E7766 they are £88.09 each + VAT and shipping.
Email Two
Please see below the reply from the factory:-
We do not have any information regarding renovating the surface on the cylinder head.
But it is cat iron, so it can´t be that damaged or oblique.

The above have been cut and pasted directly from my emails.
Fair enough some engine manufactures do offer head gaskets of differing thickness .

Factory reply not what I had hoped for. Expect cat = cast.

And yes I have bought a head gasket at that price !

Regards Shutterbug
Click to expand...


If thats the quality of backup we can expect now then my next engine definitely WON'T be a Bukh and I've been a Bukh fan for a long time now! The previous guys at the UK outlet (Al and Norm) were superb but whenever I call now I also feel underwhelmed by the response.
 
Shutterbug said:
Hi Bukh owners after many years faithful service my DV 20 has blown its head gasket.
Head is off and on the bench need help with machining measurements.
Accurate head thickness dimension from sealing surface to sealing surface to accertain if the head has been skimmed before.
The maximum amount that can be safely removed before the valve seats need to be recut.
The width of the packing grooves machined in to the head.
No measurements in the offical Bukh workshop manual.
Also I have asked Bukh UK twice.
Have scoured the internet for days to find out the above with no joy.
As thousands of ageing Bukh in use someone must have had a head resurfaced before.
Help please before the best summer for years finishes.
Cheers Shutterbug
Click to expand...
Stick some lead wire on the piston tops in the valve areas, put the head back on with the old head gasket and nip it up tight. Dont put the pushrods in. Then bar the engine over, it will be hard when the piston squashes the lead wire, do it for both the cylinders. Then take the head off and measure the thickness of the lead wire where it is squashed, that will give you the clearance, then you can figure out how much you can take off before the piston touches the valves on the firing stroke. The band rings machined in the head, as someone else said, dont worry about those. The compression ratio should be the same. If you are really concerned about the valve piston clearance you could skim the valve heads by the same amount taken off the head. 20 thou?
Stu
PS https://youtu.be/7mO7wRKoKCM
 
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Hi Skipper Stu, thanks for the advice and information. Looks like my home work for next weekend as of course the boat is on swing mooring.
Fortunately I have kept the old gasket. Think I will cut two slots from the cylinder area of the gasket to outside of block to ease the compression as injectors still fitted in head and its a pig to turn over by hand normally.
Neat trick about the valves.
Thanks for youtube link.
Regards Shutter Bug
 
Shutterbug said:
Hi Skipper Stu, thanks for the advice and information. Looks like my home work for next weekend as of course the boat is on swing mooring.
Fortunately I have kept the old gasket. Think I will cut two slots from the cylinder area of the gasket to outside of block to ease the compression as injectors still fitted in head and its a pig to turn over by hand normally.
Neat trick about the valves.
Thanks for youtube link.
Regards Shutter Bug
Click to expand...

We used to use that trick when we were assembling racing engines, Triumphs in particular, to check how close the pistons were getting to the valves. You might have to "bump" it a bit to get the piston to compress the lead but it wont do any harm.
Stu
 
Hi All, just a quick update on the Bukh cylinder head saga. Have obtained another head complete with the sealing grooves intact last weekend, have measured this one and it is just over 80mm the original one is just under. So it looks like the original head had been skimmed. Will try and get accurate dimensions of both heads to aid others . Think I will still follow Skipper Stu advice and do the lead test on both heads using the old gasket . This will show the valve/piston clearance dimension on a " hopefully standard" head and a skimmed head. Will fit the used head after the test and be back on the water again soon I hope.
Regards to all Shutterbug
 
Worth noting that there are firms out there who will make you a head gasket to order.
Also any good engine recon.firm will know whats best to do in these circumstances.
 
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