Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyB
First post here. I have a FRS with 6500 miles (manual) 2000 of which are track day miles. (I'm a driving instructor) My car started with the burning oil smell after my first track day. I pulled the plate, cleaned and re-sealed it with Permatex RTV taking care to do the one hour set time with the bolts finger tight before torquing them properly and allowing a 24 hour cure. This works until the next track time.
My theory is 2-fold The steel plate expands and contracts at a different rate than the aluminum head it is attached to thus causing tiny stress crack in the silicone sealant. The very thin 0w20 oil when hot finds its way through and it only takes one drop on the hot exhaust to make a whole lot of smell.
Second problem is when tracking, I think hard left hand turns puts/holds more oil in the heads, essentially filling up the void behind the plate to dribble out on the hot exhaust over the next few hundred miles.
I finally got tired of the re-sealing thing so I picked up a sheet of FelPro cork 1/16" gasket material and made a custom gasket. The cork swells when oil is in contact with it and allows the plate to move ever so independently from the aluminum head.
I have flogged the car for around 500 miles and not been able to cause the leak again.
Hope this helps.
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Did you use anything to hold the FelPro to the plate?
Would it be bad to cover the whole plate with Felpro to keep it from flexing under the torque of the bolts. Or maybe just around the bolts as well at the circular area we need to seal?