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MG MGB Technical - Payen Head Gasket

Looking to replace my blown head gasket...search of the archives tells me the Payen Head Gasket is the best but the Moss Catalog states the Payen (#296-405) is only for 75-80 (mine is a 1969) however their website states the Payen is good for any MGA 1500 & 1600 and all MGB 1800...anyone use the Payen from Moss on earlier Bs?
Bob Dougherty

Bob, I'm pretty sure that is what I put on my GK engine. I just looked at the site of another supplier, and they indicate the same gasket from 62 to 80. $22.06 by itself or $49.76 for the set by the way.

Charley
C R Huff

I used it on the 18V's in both '73 and '74 "B's"....
Talk to Basil Adams.
Edward
Edward Wesson 52TD

Their catalog lists that it's for '75 to '80 Bs, but right next to it it says "fits all years". RAY
rjm RAY

Bob. Go to your local car parts store and order a Fel-Pro upper gasket set for your model year. They include a resin gasket marked "Made in England" and I have used their upper gasket sets for years with complete satisfaction. The 62-74 set should have the carb gaskets that would not be included in the 75-80 kit. Much better quality gaskets than you get from the "usual suspects". I use both the Fel-Pro upper gasket set and the conversion set (lower engine) when rebuilding engines and have never had a problem with them. Have had some significant problems with the Rover gasket kits.

Les
Les Bengtson

Think I ordered mine from Chris at Octarine Services, Essex, United Kingdom. Chris posts usually posts on this site.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce-
I haven't seen Chris Betson post on this BBS in a long, long time. I wonder what's become of him. Hope he's OK.......
Stephen Strange

As far as I know Chris was OK last time I was in contact with him.

Bob, we use the black Payen/Fel-pro head gasket for all B series applications regardless of engine size.

Peter
Peter Burgess Tuning

I have missed Chris of Octarine services on the forum. His views and advice was always respected and welcome.
Trev
Trevor Harvey

These seem like coded messages. Is Chris OK? Is there some bad thing going down with the Octogenarian?
vem myers

Hi less ,
I fit a Payen head gasket to my 73 car, standard gasket set for 1800 engine, the engine in my car is a 1995 cc engine and I did not expect it to be a successful repair that was well over 3000 miles ago,

Regards Patrick
P.T. Tighe

"that was well over 3000 miles ago"

I should hope so! That's not much more than a year! I'd moan about a subsequent failure after 30,000 miles.
Paul Hunt

or even 300,000....?
Michael Beswick

At the time I had a problem getting the right gasket for this engine and settled for a Payen gasket that did not look a very good fit on the block still I went a head and fit it expecting it to fail, eventually I found a man in Bradford who made gaskets for classic cars, he said send me the old gasket and I will make you a new one, and he did. It's still in the garage, maybe in 300'000 miles time I will fit it

Patrick
P.T. Tighe

Chris has not been well and cannot drive at the moment. I was in contact with him last week, and he is ok but working in two places and using public transport so he doesn't apparently have time for posting here.
dominic clancy

thanx for the follow up Dominic.
vem myers

Aw shucks - nice to know I am missed!

Yes - still alive and kicking, though taking things easier for a while.

Have been working on a couple of major rebuilds which have kept me busy.
Chris at Octarine Services

Welcome back, Chris.

Charley
C R Huff

Chris-
Yep, you've been missed!
Stephen Strange

I was convinced that Chris had retired to a a small island in the South Pacific. RAY
rjm RAY

lol - no - but I do spend less time playing with cars and more time playing with this these days - sort of an MG geegee!

Chris at Octarine Services

Only one horsepower?
Art Pearse

Actually the average horse produces about 30 horsepower - I dunno why they call it a horsepower!

At 17 hands and about 1500 lbs she is just as much fun as the V8!
Chris at Octarine Services

Hi,

At 17 hands and about 1500 lbs she is just as much fun as the V8!

I bet your bum hurts more after a 100 mile run.

This link gives the history of the HP. It seems that it include endurance, i.e. a horse can do X work for Y hours, even though the peak output for a short time is greater. Also used as a marketing tool by James Watt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower#History_of_the_unit

Herb
Herb Adler

Chris, If you're not driving your car, you can simply park it in your garage, but you have to constantly feed that hayburner even when you're not using it. A common problem here in Northern California. RAY
rjm RAY

Ah, but filling stations are plentiful and the fuel is free .... you can even sell the waste product for people to put on their roses, there's no road tax to pay or tyres to worry about (she is barefoot), off road performance beats any 4x4 and scrumping apples out of trees provides en route refreshment for her and her rider ...
Chris at Octarine Services

This thread was discussed between 04/05/2013 and 18/06/2013

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