Advice opinions please

[DODD]

Andrew,

Yes, that is exactly what I meant.

I had what I thought was a blown head gasket on my 410 last year but
unfortunately I found a crack in one of the heads. I think the crack may have been caused by the butterfly mechanism which controls the choke in the offside exhaust manifold which was sticking. As I had fitted an Edelbrock carburettor with automatic choke, this device in the manifold was no longer required, hence its removal. With the additional heat build up it had also caused a small hairline crack to develop in the manifold, which fortunately I had caught in time and was able to have it repaired.
I ended up giving my engine a complete top end overhaul including a new timing chain, cogs and water pump.
If you haven’t had the exhaust manifolds or the water pump off a Bristol V8 (318 engine particularly) before, please note, some of the threaded holes for the fixing studs and bolts that secure these parts to the heads and block are actually drilled through into the water jacket of the engine and head. These studs and bolts should have a sealing compound applied to the thread prior to fixing. I learnt the hard way!

Brian