Topic: Did I just screw up my top end rebuild???!!!

[justinmcgiver]

So....
Last night durring my 12th hour in the garage I got to the point of reassembling the top end. I decided to use a tiny amount of hondabond on the mating surfaces around the cylinder base gasket as the surfaces were not perfect. Yes I have read all the posts about gasket sealer and I was sure to use it extremely sparingly. Everything went together smoothly...got the cylinder on easily. Then the head went on no problem. At this point I realized I had left the torque specs and tightening sequence at home so I decided to call it quits without tightening down the head. The head and cylinder were tapped down snugly but not tightened down.

My worry is this: Is the Hondabond, having not been compressed completely against the mating surfaces,  going to dry in a way that is going to compromise the seal when I do go back and tighten everything down? I only used the absolute smallest amount I could get on there and only in the areas where the mating surfaces were not perfect. Do I need to pull everything back apart and start again or am I just totally overthinking this whole thing. I'm totally stressing out over this bike right now! I really don't want to get this thing back together and have it still blow oil all over me!

What do you guys think?

[Jim F]

If its a very fine coat of gasket material then I would say don't worry

but

to be safe I would start again

I have never used gasket material on the motors I have built but thats just me

my sohc and my GS 2 valve have over 180 psi cranking pressure with out blowing anything out
and they have seen red line plenty of times

good luck
Jim

[kghost]

If its the base gasket you will be fine.

If it were the head gasket I would say start again.

I would torque it down and go.

[scondon]

I'm totally stressing out over this bike right now!

  Glad to hear I'm not the only one stressing out about their engine

   If it were me, I would go back and check that when the cylinder and head were tapped down snuggly that they were in fact pressed against the gasket and lower case all the way around. If so, then I would torque the head down and call it good.

   I've used the Yamabond(not Hondabond) and it does not dry hard. I'm thinking that your worry may be that it may not "spread out" as it would have if you had torqued everything down while it was still "wet". This stuff dries faster in the open air so with your cylinder block covering it I would think there be enough "fluidity" left to achieve some spread. Even if there wasn't I think your ok since you applied only a very thin film.

   Just my opinion.

[Hop on a Honda]

A very thin film of that goo will be enough but too much will squeeze into the cramkcase. IF The goo was too thick the only thing that may happen is that it will decrease the compression ratio ever so slightly. The good goo takes quite a while to stiffen I believe it will not go hard as such.
If you have check tightened the torque values of the head before the engine installation into the frame I would say it should be OK.
After a while it would be good idea to remove the sump and check the oil pump screen for any excess goo that may have been squeezed into the innards of the engine. That is if you have been over zealous with the gasket goo.
I have seen a locating dowell in the top part of the crank case (where the block fits onto) badly fitted and still did not leak!!
Cheers
Dave

[chung]

IMHO:

If I had snugged all the nuts then I would leave it, But If not then I would do it again.

Being a lazy old bastard, this is just the way I think:

I didn't want to do it the first time, I sure don't want to do it twice. Pulling the jug isn't as hard as pulling the motor and then....