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Gaskets around the Cylinder Head

AndyG

Member
Maybe sometime this year I will put my cylinder head back on - But then I wouldn't be able to look at the beautiful porting job that's been done on it whilst it was with Salv Sacco.

To put it all together I needed new gaskets. The parts and original Renault numbers were;
4x 7700617868 Inlet manifold gasket
1x 6001001051 Exhaust manifold gasket
1x 7704000287 Temp Sender Plate gasket
1x 6001000550 Rocker Cover gasket
1x 7700635403 Water Pump Gasket
1x 6001000964 Garrett T3 exhaust inlet gasket
1x 6001007491 2.4mm Cylinder Head gasket (for 8221 only)

I know all the bits can be obtained from John Price and he quoted £118 (Euro 165) - not including the head gasket. This seemed a little steep, so I am gradually compiling the bits from various sources. So far;

Inlet manifold gaskets - GBS Alpine - £9
Exhaust manifold gasket - Andrew Page (motor factor) - £7
Temp Sender Plate gasket - CGB Motorsport (5GT Turbo specialist) - £2
Rocker Cover gasket - Andrew Page - £7
Water Pump Gasket - CGB Motorsport - £2
Garrett T3 exhaust inlet gasket - GBS Alpine - £8

2.4mm Cylinder Head gasket - Mecaparts - £97
T2 Water Pump 1885 - Mecaparts - £50

Dealing with France is interesting. My French is poor, so I rely on Web based translators and this works reasonably well so long as sentences are kept short and specific. (Plus I always throw in an apology for linguistic ineptitude)

I prefer to use VISA when I can, and this is almost universally accepted on the internet in the UK through secure sites. In France however, it is occasionally accepted and I have yet to find a secure site. Inevitably this means giving my VISA number over the phone and apart from a few verbal hiccups both GBS Alpine and Mecaparts are very friendly and co-operative.

The much easier solution would have been to get it all from John Price, and although I don’t begrudge him making a living, I’m in no hurry and gradually accumulating the parts has been fun. Besides, he has annoyed me by insisting that the 8221 engines were never 1432cc and therefore the 2.4mm gasket wasn’t needed. I admit he knows as much as anyone about these cars, but my vernier gauge says he’s wrong on this point.

I’m left with a couple of questions;

Does anyone know where to get hold of rocker cover gaskets in the UK ? I would appear to have the last one that Andrew Page had on the shelf. I ordered a 5 GT Turbo one from CGB Motorsport thinking that the head dimensions would be the same size, but that is apparently not so. However, at £1.99 I’ll not lose any sleep.

The other thing is that my exhaust gasket is was £7 (probably to originally fit an R5 Gordini/Turbo) and the only ones I can find on the websites are about £40. Granted the one I have just looks like a normal paper gasket sandwiching a thin metal gasket, and the one that came off as well as the ones on the French sites have metal rings around the ports much like a cylinderhead gasket. There must be a reason for this…… I am hesitant to trust my 'bargain'.

Any other tips about suppliers who are easy to deal with and inexpensive for these ‘service’ parts would be most welcome.
 
That's food for thought Andy. Your parts total: John Price £118; shop around £35 = 337% more expensive (that's more than just a living in my book!). In 13 years T2 ownership I have never been near his place nor bought a single part from him. Such parts prices help perpetuate the myth that T1/T2's are inherently expensive cars to run. Of course some of the bespoke bits are costly, but service parts for regular road cars just aren't! I am sure JPR's knowledge is extensive and his mechanical work is excellent, but piling on the profit on regular over-the-counter parts seems just greedy to me. He's usually only buying them in like anyone else after all. Still: "Price by name,....."
 
Well, I did miss off the postage and tax.........tax works out at 20% ish and the heaviest item was the water pump which cost £15 to send. However, Mecaparts sent me the wrong pump by mistake first time. When I pointed this out they said - keep the pump we'll send you the right one, which is a very customer friendly attitude. Mind you I'll probably send it back next time I order something and ask them to knock the postage cost off my order, it only seems fair, and you never know when a bit of mutual consideration can come in handy.
 
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