KAD 44 Rocker Gasket

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Dazzajohm

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After trying several times to solve a leaky rocker cover Gasket with the VP sealant without any success my father in law thought he could make me a replacement gasket. Pretty pleased with the result, now just needs to be fitted and see if it works!

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Nice job . Check that the thickness of the gasket doesn't stop the o rings on top of the injectors sealing though . Good luck :encouragement: .
 
as a kamd 300 owner anticipating a valve tweak next year I can't believe the gaskets are no longer available
assuming thickness works out ok would your father in law be interested in bulk orders ????
 
andy59 said:
Nice job . Check that the thickness of the gasket doesn't stop the o rings on top of the injectors sealing though . Good luck :encouragement: .
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I’ve not collected it from him yet, just seen the picture I posted above but I believe the gasket is 4.5mm so should be ok... hopefully.
 
kashurst said:
as a kamd 300 owner anticipating a valve tweak next year I can't believe the gaskets are no longer available
assuming thickness works out ok would your father in law be interested in bulk orders ????
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Yes I couldn’t believe that VP don’t do a gasket anymore but also that no one does an after market part either. I scoured the internet looking as far as america and australia but no luck.

obviously i wont know whether its worked until its been refitted and boat is back in the water but if all is well then yes my father in law is open to the suggestion of making them to order as he has obviously kept all the templates he made!
 
I'm 2x KAD300 - I'd be interested in buying a couple of gaskets if they prove to work.
 
petem said:
I hadn't realised they were no longer available. Is a new gasket required when checking the valve clearances?
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It is, if the gasket comes apart into six pieces, two of which fall down underneath the engine as you take the rocker cover off.
 
KAD 300 never had a rocker box cover gasket in the first place .
They use a tube of black official VP “gobb” sealant .
-Think about it , you don’t need to crucify the cover bolts .
- It allows for different coefficients of expansion between the two , long box on straight 6
- It shows that its at least been off - you can see the new stuff ouze out .
- cynically- it allows for less that tighter manufacturing tolerance between the two parts not to show up !
- may help in galvanic isolation- if it’s needed ?
Having said said I did get a very tiny weep- valve done professionally .

Can,t comment on the 44 - never had one .
 
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When we had the tappets done on our KAD 44's, our engineer took the opportunity of replacing the Volvo "gunge" that allowed oil to leak from around the rocker boxes. He cleaned everything off and superglued on a rubber D ring which was compressed onto the head as the cover was replaced. Result? Not a drop of oil has leaked so far, and a simple job to remove and replace the rocker box in future. Time consuming, but a perfect job.
 
The secret to getting a good seal every time with the Volvo goo is to thoroughly clean off the old stuff then apply a bead to the rocker cover and allow it to semi dry, then when you replace the cover it doesn't get smeared off as you wriggle the rear corner in past the turbo inlet pipe. And its proud enough to form a good seal when you tighten the cover which clamps down onto a raised foot around each bolt hole on the underside of the cover, so it doesn't squeeze out all the sealant as the cover sits a millimeter or so above the head.
 
spannerman said:
The secret to getting a good seal every time with the Volvo goo is to thoroughly clean off the old stuff then apply a bead to the rocker cover and allow it to semi dry, then when you replace the cover it doesn't get smeared off as you wriggle the rear corner in past the turbo inlet pipe. And its proud enough to form a good seal when you tighten the cover which clamps down onto a raised foot around each bolt hole on the underside of the cover, so it doesn't squeeze out all the sealant as the cover sits a millimeter or so above the head.
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how big/high should the bead of gunge be? thanks
 
Spannermans method worked perfectly for me , bead of gunge was about 7mm . I cleaned rocker cover groove with acetone and wiped film of oil on head mating surface so it didn’t stick permanently .
 
I admire whoever has taken the time to make that gasket but sadly after fitting hundreds on and off over the years I doubt as it’s cork it will seal .
I’d observe that because the rubber gasket sits in a groove in the cover and it’s a lot thinner than the cork gasket the gasket will be pushed out of alignment when it’s tightend down .
The reason I’m saying this is because if you look at the cover where the bolts pass through it there is a machined stop so that when you tighten down the cover the stop makes contact with the head face so that the gasket is crushed at the correct pressure to seal , that way you can’t over tighten the bolts and push the gasket out .
The cork gasket looks too thick , it remind me of the Ford Dorset Dover gasket that has such a span between the bolts it sometime pushes itself out or inwards then you loose the seal.

In all the years I’ve been doing this I have never bought the stupidly expensive glue from VP , I’ve used black gasket maker from a car factors , wynns is a good make about £9 a tube.

One observation from Andy 59 is the fact the cover may not pull down to seal around the injectors plus to will sit too tall to enable fitting of the injector leak off rail.

When I do this job I always remove as much of the engine as possible to enable a straight drop vertically down and evenly when fitting so that the glue spreads evenly , take off the turbo inlet pipe and the spill rail pipe that goes under the black box to the top of the inejector pump, that gives you a clear drop, taking off the engine lift brackets as well can help especially on the terrible Prestige 32 and 36 boats .

Of course I wish you well in this attempt to sort your leaks and am happy to be proved wrong.
 
re volvo Paul - could you reuse the old rubber gasket with a smear of instant gasket on both sides and stick it back on?
 
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