Blew my first Head gasket

[BOP4ever]

I guess its part of owning one of these things....
I was playing around and went to pass my wife on the way to church and there was a shudder and power loss and cloud of smoke...I limped on to church trailing smoke which got worse under load.
There was oil over the engine compartment and the smoke I think was from oil being burned off the exhuast.... It runs with a loud pisst tick from under the intake manifold on the passenger side.... I figure it blew inward and is pressurizing the engine... Oil is clean. I had it towed home... so now I need some advice on parts needed and R&R methods... incar or out of car is it better to pull the engine and trans together or seperate the engine ?


Thanks...

 

[DailyDrifter]

I never blew a head gasket in one of these cars...............windowed a block once though


I would pull the engine. Leave the trans in the car, put a jack under the front of the trans until you can attach a chain from the trans to the top of the cowl where there is a "bumper" for the hood.

 

[forzfed]

I find the passenger side head gasket easier to do than the drivers. It's not bad to do in the car, if you don't mind bending. I would pull the pan and make sure there is no gasket material plugging the oil pickup, I just threw a new one in.

 

[BOP4ever]

Thanks I was figuring I should change both because the other may be about ready to let go too. What gaskets are best btw? There sure seems to be a lot of crap in the way to pull tthe engine wiring ,hoses etc.... any good h ow to post on this? Car has about 65000 on ti0it and I hand a bad over boost event last year that may have helpped this along.
Is the oil pan easy to pull in the car ?

 

[forzfed]

With a stock motor, use the GM head gaskets, can't beat them.

 

[Phoneguy]

Welcome to the club!!!!!!!!!
Passenger side is the easiest to do in the car, but if you own an engine hoist just pull the motor it will give you better results and you can do some cleaning and painting while it is out. Not a hard job to do, just time consuming the first time around. Take your time, on the first time it will help you if you label things and take pictures. Study the engine first and how the harness routes, it will actually kind of fall into place and the connectors will only plug into their mate.
I just had to pull mine again after a major meltdown, it was on the engine stand with the intake and heads pulled in 3.5 hours, yes my car has working AC too. Good luck.
Post your location, someone local may be able to help.

Bryan

 

[BOP4ever]

Thanks that is probably the best way to do it. Thinking about porting the heads or buying new heads while it is out. I have a te44 and new stretch inter cooler for the car and a new timing set too install.
I would like to get the car into the mid 11 range one day and better heads wouldnmake the car faster with less boost and be safer detonation wise right?

What other parts should I be needing gaskets etc..
Thanks I am the only GN in these parts I think so this helps me not feel so alone in this deal.

 

[84gnguy]

what made it pop? too much boost?

 

[BOP4ever]

I assume to much boost I honestly did not look at the gauge.... I don;t drive thew car much used to my V8 Hot Rods ... Just watching the road...
Runnign about 20-21 PS though unless something messed up...


I had a major detonation episode last year.
That may have weakened things .

I foudn this gasket kit on Rock Auto seems to have most everything I need.
More Information for FEL-PRO HS9441PT

Anything else I should get on order ? Head Studs seem like a good idea.

I was thinking about trying some home porting on the heads to save money, I've done that with moderate success on some of my V8 builds. Are the stock
valves and valve sizes good enough of is a valve size change needed to get these heads to flow close to the after-market ported heads?
I need to start another thread probably on that issue....

I am trying to find something positive to focus on not the fact I blew it up.

 

[6cylboost]

Were you racing your wife to church?

 

[BOP4ever]

No just trying to show off....

 

[3.8L V-8 eater]

Pull the engine and get it lookin good painting and cleaning!! Much easier done out of the car... I take the AC compressor and power steering and bungie them off to the side without unhooking any lines..Also zip tie as much of the wire harness as you can get out of the way on the drivers side...Cometic gaskets are good to use especially if you are going to run high boost applications..Also if you have the stock timing chain this would be a good time to upgrade there as well...Good luck it's not that bad just did it myself and sadly enough everytime I do it, it gets easier!!

This would be my list:

1) Head gaskets (Cometic's)
2) ARP head studs
3) Look into having the heads decked to ensure proper seal
4) Intake gasket
5) Front cover gasket kit / Timing chain upgrade
6) Some high temp paint for the headers
7) Turbo oil drain gasket / oil pan gasket / header gaskets
8) Possibly a d.pipe gasket (although I reuse mine with no leaks)
9) oil and anti freeze
10) Some good RTV sealant for gaskets

 

[turbofrank]

Use felpro headgaskets and valleypan
check oilpan
take heads to machineshop for cleanup
use tty headbolts
verify torq wrench calibration
label parts and take pic

 

[BOP4ever]

Are the TTY bolts better than ARP studs ?
I think the kit from rock auto includes the felpro stock replaced type gaskets and most of the misc gaskets. Should this be ok

 

[forzfed]

Are the TTY bolts better than ARP studs ?
I think the kit from rock auto includes the felpro stock replaced type gaskets and most of the misc gaskets. Should this be ok

You have to be careful with the Felpro head gaskets, the cheap ones are crap. I've seen them pop a the start line with hardly any boost, on a car that hadn't seen any detonation. And the last time I was at the track I seen a head gasket blow on a GN and I asked them if they were Felpro, and he answered yes. The ARP studs will give a bit better clamping force, but I'd stick with the ARP head bolts. Stick with the GM head gaskets, I made 480rwhp with them and never had a problem.

 

[chops]

Did you blow head gaskets with or with out alky ?

 

[BOP4ever]

Where can I get the Gm gasket?
The felPro I was going to get is the ones Cotton's sells are they the cheap one that have problems I think they are like #9441 or something like that.

 

[BOP4ever]

Did you blow head gaskets with or with out alky ?

With alky but I was not looking at the lights when I ran it but it functioned when tested.

 

[chops]

That's a shame ! Was your tune on the money if so it should of not happend with alky did you you have any way to see what the intake air temp was ? That will tell you if alky was doing its job . That really sucks. Better check your alky pump make sure its working and try to figure out why it happend this way you can prevent it from happening again good luck brother:biggrin:

 

[krom]

With alky but I was not looking at the lights when I ran it but it functioned when tested.

How old was the gas?