my 323 is a 91, has 260,000 mi. finally replacing the head gasget, been leaking a long time. the old gasget was in poor shape. (water leaking into cyc). what is best way to clean off block surface of broken gasget material??

thanks

larry

 

The best thing to do would be take it to a machine shop and have it milled. I'm a believer that any aluminum head should be milled anytime it's removed. If it's not warped, they only need to take off a couple thousandths but now you have nice, new, super clean flat surface. Cheap insurance.

 

260K!! WOW!!!

For the cast iron block, a simple metal gasket scraper will do... if used carefully.

For the head, I'm in agreement w/CatFuzz. I would also have the head Magnafluxed to check for cracks.
For aluminum, plastic is the only kind of scraper that should be used to remove the big, stubbon material, followed by a scuff pad to finish it off.
The machine shop will do that for you, or if they need to resurface the head, there is no need.

 

thanks for the advice..i am old way,,scraped the head with razor blade & much time.

thanks...

 

Your "old way" is risking having to do the job over again. Having it milled is cheap insurance. The old way is for old engines with cast iron parts. Aluminum is a different story.

 

my bad,,of course i mean the block service