RE: O.S .46LA Head Gasket Help
Gary,
Even with as many engines as I have rebuilt, I have been fooled by these metal shim type gaskets. Several times (including very recently) I've sworn that there was no gasket in an engine. But if you look closely you will see a slight color difference between the head and the recessed area where the cylinder sleeve seats into the head. That more silvery metal in the recessed area is the gasket. Trust us, it's visible in the photo.
The problem is that frequently the combination of fuel, oil and heat from running will glue pieces together. Sometimes the gasket likes to stick to the head. Sometimes it likes to stick to the top of the cylinder. Yours is stuck in the head.
If you really want to remove the gasket just to prove to yourself that it is there, notice that the bolt holes in the head cut into the outer circumference of the recessed area. That is where you need to go with your needle or hobby knife to try to pick the gasket out. Frequently the gasket is hard to remove if you try to pry it out from the edge of the seat but if you go at it from the bolt hole you can pop it loose.
Seriously, I've been rebuilding model engines for 40 years, that gasket is there. You should take the kind advice of all who have preceeded me and just reassemble the engine, torque things down and fly the snot out of it. If you must see the gasket, that's how to find it.
If you do order new gaskets, heed JohnBuckner's advice and be sure not to put the new head gasket on top of the one that is obviously already there. If you add a new gasket it is even more important that you pick away at things to get that old gasket out as two gaskets are going to cause you more problems than you have now.
The good news is that it's hard to hurt those aluminum gaskets. I discussed a top racing engine with the manufacturer recently, it had a crimped head gasket. I wanted to order a new one. He said that with the pressure that is applied to the gasket when the head is torqued, I shouldn't worry about anything short of it being torn it two. Bolt it down and fly it!
Dave