Just rebuilt the engine on a 1953 SV engined flat rad +4. I have gotten water in the oil with two different head gaskets. I have the original engine with Standard Vanguard head. I got the car from a friend who also has a 1952 Morgan +4 and both blocks were cracked in the same place (sort of above where the drain spigot goes). I suspect that this was because he torqued on TR2 and TR3 heads to the block with 100 ft/lbs (standard for TR) while my Standard Vanguard manual says to torque on heads to 60 ft/lbs. I had my block crack stitched together at locknstitch.com and they told me that the stitch is stronger than the original cast iron now. I tried using a racing composite head gasket from Moss thinking that it might seal better. Still got water in the oil. The bottom of the liners are sealed tight too and I doubt that it could be the figure-of-8 gaskets with Wellseal. I've checked cylinder liner protrusion and they are all .003". Is anyone running a SV engined Morgan with the head torqued on to 100 ft/lbs? Any problems. Any other ideas?

Bill Brewer