In another thread I wrote (snip):-
It worked ! Yesterday evening within an hour and a half, I had made and fitted a head gasket to the little Stuart Turner Type N.
Why so long you ask, particularly as the kit of parts from Kim included a dead copper asbestos pattern? I used a heavily graphited fibrous material reinforced with what I took to be perforated aluminium, it wasn't 'till I tried to cut it that I realised the reinforcement was in fact stainless - my usual selection of craft knives and wad punches wouldn't touch it. Tin snips were fine for the OD but too unwieldy for the bore, let alone the stud holes and waterways. I ended up grinding an 1/8" chisel out of tool steel and nibbling my way round with that.
When I came to fit it, I noticed that the gasket face of the cylinder block was stamped with an ST monogram - has anybody else come across this? I wondered if it indicated that the engine had been reconditioned by the factory at some time.