Avocet
Well-Known Member
Hooray. If the new head is significantly eroded below original spec in any of these places, this might be a good time to have built up with welding/spraying ...
Trouble is, I don't know what the original spec was. I've heard apocryphal tales that on this engine, the cores moved in the sand when they were casting them and the wall of the exhaust port through the water jacket was thinner on one side than the other. Unfortunately, I can't get to both sides of the wall on the other side of the port to see if there's any truth in this, but I have now seen two D12 heads that have gone through in exactly the same place, so it might be! To be honest, I don' think I'll try building anything up. it's going to be in fresh water for the next couple of seasons at least. I'm using magnesium anodes and I might pay a bit more attention to winterising it properly with antifreeze. I'm sure there's at least 5 years to be had out of it and by then, don't know what the rest of the engine will be like (it's 25 years old now)! That should give me time to save up for a new engine. As it is, the vendor has been taunting me, about the smooth, quiet, low vibration virtues of his new 2 cylinder Beta - or as he so eloquently put it, "maccapacca maccapacca" instead of "thud-thud-thud-thud-thud"!