Went to the Track Today!!! AHHHH!

[86 TR]

Went racing today. First pass was good at 11.40 @117mph. It was running a bit rich though. Boost was set at 22psi, runnin C-16. So I decided to raise the boost a pound or two. Second pass the car just didn't feel right at about the 1/8 mile, it was bucking a little but no KR on the scanmaster. I did notice the boost fell off alot between the second and third shift. I kept in it and finished the quarter at 11.50 117.50mph. ON the return road I was watching my temp. gauge and it started climbing really fast. I shut the car off to pick up my timeslip and started it to get back to the truck. When I got back to the trailer my temp. was at 285* and climbing. Pulled the dipstick and I got the crappy milkshake. DAMN HEADGASKET.

My question is would this have hurt my turbo???? What would be the best way to flush out the turbo with fresh oil??? I will be taking the engine apart anyway to clean it out and probably replace the bearings. I didn't drive it too far but I know what antifreeze does to the engine bearings.

Actually the oil pan probably has about one or two gallons of antifreeze mixed in with the oil. I was thinkin tomorrow I would drain what ever coolant is left in the system and change oil then run it for a couple of minutes with no antifreeze in it to try and flush out the crap. Then begin the teardown process.

What do you guys think???

 

[86 TR]

Anyone??????

 

[boostingbuick]

I have never flushed my turbo from a headgasket, and never had any issues. But I would like to know what you find when you pull it apart. Did you run stock headbolts? And what gaskets?

 

[SHADOWII]

Can't hurt...

to flush it that way, I have never heard of any issues from h/g's, but that doesn't mean anything!? I wouldn't think the turbo bearings are seeing the same kinds of stress the mains, etc. are under.

 

[Brer Rabbit]

Question about ur coolant?

Straight water or did U have anti-freeze in the radiator?

 

[turbofrank]

No sense in flushing motor a bad bearing is a bad bearing tear it down.

 

[BEATAV8]

No sense in flushing motor a bad bearing is a bad bearing tear it down.

Yep... just tear into it. It's going to be a mess either way. Stock headgaskets? graphite everywhere...

plus the longer you run it.. the more risk of hurting something even more.

 

[86 TR]

Unfortunately I was running antifreeze! The headgaskets were the graphite felpro 9441's with Arp Head bolts. I do want to put in head studs now. Maybe that would help clamp the head better than the bolts. I guess now would be a good time to buy some ported heads and intake too!

Im gonna try to get it torn down today and then I will post some pics.

Man I hate changing headgaskets!!!!!!!!

Should I replace the gaskets with some more stockers or use something else? I have 2 sets of victors sitting in the box I could use!

The weird thing is the car never smoked out of the tailpipes or anything. It just leaked internally. I would have rather had it spray antifreeze out side of the block than inside!!

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

I guess that's a lesson for the rest of us that race, if the temp goes up shut it down asap. Thanks for sharing your story, I'm just wondering why your car bucked... that's probably when the gasket let go. I've been running 25#'s all year and have not had a problem... yet.

Chuck

 

[86 TR]

Well now that im thinking about what happened. The headgaskets were probably damaged about 3 months ago when I let a buddy of mine run my car at the track. He kept it in second gear and forgot to shift it. So Im thinking that when it was under full boost and then hit the rev. limiter, the fuel shut off but not the air going into the motor. I think thats what started it all. It just kept widdling away at the gaskets until it popped. I will never let anyone drive my car again either!!!

Either way with the car in second gear it still ran a 12.30 at 92mph! I should have punched my buddy right in the nose for doing that!!!

Well, gonna start ripping the motor out today. Not lookin forward to it but it has to be done.

 

[87NAT]

Do you manual shift your car? You said your buddy forgot to shift it. It will probably go faster shifting by itself.

 

[86 TR]

No. I always let the car shift itself but my buddy was doing a burnout in second and left it there.

I got the engine pulled out today. I got the heads pulled off and just what I suspected bad headgasket! Actually both headgaskets were junk!!!!


Heres some pics of the damage. The number 3 cylinder let loose, and the number 6!!! If you look closely you can see that every firing ring was leaking compression and widdling away the graphite. What a mess!!! I drained the oil, I mean water out, and there must have been 2 gallons of antifreeze that come out before the oil!! I will be tearing the rest of it down tomorrow and cleaning it up. And hopefully have it running this weekend again!!

 

[86 TR]

Heres a couple more. I hope it didn't ruin the bottom end but it might have.
The camshaft and lifters look fine.

Check out the nice motor mount. I put these new on 2 years ago and it just separated from the rest of the mount!!

I looked closely at my spark plugs and it showed no signs of detonation. So this probably happened a couple months back and it finally caught up with me.

 

[86 TR]

Well im tearing into the bottom end tonite. Hopefully I got it shut down fast enough to salvage the crank and bearings...

 

[Swt_86]

I feel your pain. Hope you find some good news when you tear into the bottom end!

 

[86 TR]

I feel your pain. Hope you find some good news when you tear into the bottom end!

Well, got the bottom end apart. Suprisingly everything looks good. All of the rod bearings, main bearings , cam bearings look brand new yet!! The camshaft is perfect. Just a little graphite stuck to the pickup but otherwise looks good. Other than the chocolate milkshake goin on. I think I caught it just in time!!!

I know I could put it back together and everything would be ok, BUT, Ive got a stock bottom end with main studs so now is time to do something about that! Im gonna put new billet main bearing caps on, steel crank, get a RJC girdle, new lighterweight pistons, roller cam, ported heads, etc, etc. Now is the time to do it right?????

This thing should be a screamer when Im all finished with it.

Stay Tuned!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Boost231]

wow sweet build up you got going on. i was looking at the pictures and those pistons look like they have seen better days? good luck and keep us posted on the build.

 

[notacarlo]

Piston tops look good. How fresh is that mill?

 

[86 TR]

Piston tops look good. How fresh is that mill?

Its got about 8,000 miles on the rebuild. Bigger and better now!!!