cam shaft oil galleys

[Lee Hjelsand]

Much has been said about roll pins, o rings, vitron o rings, oil leaks, to no pins or modified oil galleys, I feel like I need to put my 2 cents in here.

I agree that the Alfa roll pin method was indeed a stop gap measure, but while not a perfect one at least it helped. They were used primarily to reduce the volume of oil to the cam shaft galleys and also an attempt to seal the area where the head mets the block.

A little background is needed here. I was an Alfa dealer, service facility from 1980 to 1993 in NJ. Some of you may know my dealership as Belmar Alfa in Belmar NJ. We also had a machine shop which did all our engine machine work, surfacing heads, valve work, polishing cranks etc. I had an idea about what to do about the roll pin oil leak problem. I had the machine shop make me a roll pin as the attached photos show. Took them to Bob Franconi at ARI, and he sent them on to Alfa. While no formal approval was given they agreed that it may be a very good solution. Their only concern was electoysis and corrosion between aluminum and brass.

I have used these pins sucessfully for over 25 years, To my knowledge no failures. My personal car a 67 Duetto with a 2L engine has no oil leaks at the head/ block joint and has not been opened since 1982. While I don't proclaim this to be the end all of fixes my experience is that it has worked very well.

In most cases of a headgasket or engine rebuild the head is surfaced to be assured that it is flat and not warped. The surfacing of the head leaves the oil galley holes burred a bit. By cleaning out the hole you will find that the hole in the head is slightly smaller than the hole in the block. This works to a very distinct advantage. You will notice that the pins a chafered at both ends. The pins are designed to be pressed in the hole in the head, leaving the pin to slide into the hole in the block without interference. If the hole in the head is too small, relieve it slightly so the pin is a tight fit. Also make sure that the hole in the block will recieve the pin easily. You may use the Vitron O rings if you wish however the original O rings work just as well with this method. The shoulder of the pin is just wide enough to fit inside the O ring. The thickness of the shoulder is slightly smaller than the compressed HD gasket. With the head and block surfaces properly cleaned, I coat the head gasket and the "O" rings with spray on copper gasket cement. This stuff never dries and remains plyable. Allow the cement to tack up. Position the gasket and "O" rings on the block and carefully lower the head. A few light hits with a deadblow or rubber mallet will set the head firmly on the block. Tighten head nuts as to specs.
I also designed roll pins for the 6 Cylinder engines as the had the same problem. Of course only two of them required.
I once saw an article in, I believe the Alfa Owner, about a bypass tube threaded in to the oil galley using brake line and compresson fitting, What sillyness, This of course completely voided the warrenty at the time.

[conedriver]

Lee,

Great information. Thanks. Do you have dimensional drawings of the roll pins or do you offer them for sale?

Didn't you do the restoration for Jim Weber's Giulietta SZ long tail way back when?. Or, as we used to call him; "Weberoni"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee Hjelsand Much has been said about roll pins, o rings, vitron o rings, oil leaks, to no pins or modified oil galleys, I feel like I need to put my 2 cents in here. I agree that the Alfa roll pin method was indeed a stop gap measure, but while not a perfect one at least it helped. They were used primarily to reduce the volume of oil to the cam shaft galleys and also an attempt to seal the area where the head mets the block. A little background is needed here. I was an Alfa dealer, service facility from 1980 to 1993 in NJ. Some of you may know my dealership as Belmar Alfa in Belmar NJ. We also had a machine shop which did all our engine machine work, surfacing heads, valve work, polishing cranks etc. I had an idea about what to do about the roll pin oil leak problem. I had the machine shop make me a roll pin as the attached photos show. Took them to Bob Franconi at ARI, and he sent them on to Alfa. While no formal approval was given they agreed that it may be a very good solution. Their only concern was electoysis and corrosion between aluminum and brass. I have used these pins sucessfully for over 25 years, To my knowledge no failures. My personal car a 67 Duetto with a 2L engine has no oil leaks at the head/ block joint and has not been opened since 1982. While I don't proclaim this to be the end all of fixes my experience is that it has worked very well. In most cases of a headgasket or engine rebuild the head is surfaced to be assured that it is flat and not warped. The surfacing of the head leaves the oil galley holes burred a bit. By cleaning out the hole you will find that the hole in the head is slightly smaller than the hole in the block. This works to a very distinct advantage. You will notice that the pins a chafered at both ends. The pins are designed to be pressed in the hole in the head, leaving the pin to slide into the hole in the block without interference. If the hole in the head is too small, relieve it slightly so the pin is a tight fit. Also make sure that the hole in the block will recieve the pin easily. You may use the Vitron O rings if you wish however the original O rings work just as well with this method. The shoulder of the pin is just wide enough to fit inside the O ring. The thickness of the shoulder is slightly smaller than the compressed HD gasket. With the head and block surfaces properly cleaned, I coat the head gasket and the "O" rings with spray on copper gasket cement. This stuff never dries and remains plyable. Allow the cement to tack up. Position the gasket and "O" rings on the block and carefully lower the head. A few light hits with a deadblow or rubber mallet will set the head firmly on the block. Tighten head nuts as to specs. I also designed roll pins for the 6 Cylinder engines as the had the same problem. Of course only two of them required. I once saw an article in, I believe the Alfa Owner, about a bypass tube threaded in to the oil galley using brake line and compresson fitting, What sillyness, This of course completely voided the warrenty at the time.

[Lee Hjelsand]

Yes, to both questions My shop restored the SZ2 which later sold at a very high price. I recently saw pictures of the car and the current owner had painted it light blue.

I do have a number of the pins available, both for the 4 cly and the 6 cly. I did'nt want to dirty the article as a selling tool.

[nashbap]

Hi Lee:

Glad to see that you are still around. Perhaps you remember me. I am the one who used to come to buy parts from you while you were at Bobcor in Bellmawr in the late seventies. I had a red 1974 GTV at the time.

Best regards,

Nash Bapasola

[Lee Hjelsand]

Hi. good to hear from you. Ya, I'm retired now, soaking up the Florida sun. Still got my Duetto. We drive our cars down here in the winter time.

Lee

[Mr. C.]

Hello Lee, I posted a reply to first post regarding o-rings and then read this one which answered my questions. I would like to purchase a set of the pins. I intend to replace the head gasket again when I sort out what to do about the Reinz gasket situation. I am hoping that Reinz will change their product back to the original configuration with the thick material at the rear but that is probably not to happen. I looked into copper and copper clad gaskets but am told that they will leak. Can't see why they would but I dropped the issue there.
The internet is great ! There you are down there - a fantastic source of Alfa knowledge and without the internet you would have not been able to add your input.

[Lee Hjelsand]

Send me an E-mail at
Duetto1@aol with your address. I'll get them out ASAP
As for copper hd gaskets, Installed properly using spray on copper gasket cement they do not leak. I have used them for years, even on a turbo'ed 4 cly and never had a leak.

[Tom Pritchard]

Lee,

Glad you are well and still fooling around with Alfas. I knew you from Belmar shop. I went 20 yrs. without an Alfa and bough a 1991 Spider about 2 yrs. ago from Bob.

Tom Pritchard

[Alex]

I've heard that Spesso racing head gaskets are now an alternative to the defunct Reinz gaskets. Does anyone have any info on this? I'm thinking most particularly of the 1600/1750 engines, not the 2 litre.