Blew headgasket got pics and a question

[Jas89TTA]

Also posted this on the General Tech form. Blew the headgasket on my TTA wednesday. The heads are o-ringed and it was a GM gasket. What looks like that caused it (to me and looking for others input) was the o-ring on the head does not go around the fireing ring it's pressing on the ring when installed not on the outer edge (see pics 2-5) you can see where it left an imprint. From what I'm understanding it should not be in contact with the metal firing ring right? I hope that this was the cause. So far everthing looks good but I'll know more later after it's all inspected. The first pic is the gasket that blew and the piece sticking up was caught up inside the valve in the cly head. The other pics from cyl 2-4-6 showing the imprint but it looks like it was about to go soon. Thanks, Jason
Pics at Ka-Boom

 

[skturbo]

For starters you dont use stock head gaskets with o-ringed heads. You can use the Fel-Pro lock wire gasket or copper head gaskets. Also what was your boost level?
Steve K.

 

[Razor]

If the heads are Champion, they typically will use the 1007 Felpro's.

On my car I milled the heads .015 and used the .062 Cometic. The issue is who cut the o-rings, how deep, etc and what gasket was intended.

Did you call Kevin and ask him?

And I would look at other slight possibilities like bad fuel pump, hot wire, regulator, etc.. Once you get it back together.. start off by installing a large fuel pressure guage and monitoring it. My car late last year developed a fuel system problem that ended up being a bad fuel pump relay in the hotwire kit.

 

[Jas89TTA]

I don;t know what the boost was I turned it down before I got on the dyno.
Julio, Champion did port work on the heads but my heads already had the o-ring on them when I sent them there, I just figured they did the work on my old ones and sent them back out. How can I tell if they are for 1007 gaskets? I measured the outside dia of the o-rings the they all are 4.199" with a .040" gap between them. I called kevin and he suggested removing the o-ring and filling it with copper get them flat and run cometic gaskets. I hear some have trouble getting them to seal so I was looking at the SCS Titan Coppers. I talked to someone at webber racing saturday about it and he said the SCS ones would work with the o-ring where it is on my head but I'm thinking of having it removed. When it blew on the dyno they had wideband hooked up and it was running rich in the 10's and 11's so based on that I don't think it went lean. Some people around here seen the gasket that did not blow and said it looks like it went because of the o-ring on the fireing ring it could not seal it was suppose to go around it into the gasket is this right? Thanks, Jason

 

[TTA850]

Yup stock head gaskets with o-rings is a problem. If you want to use stock gaskets(or fel pro 9441's)then no o-rings. If you want to use o-rings then it has to be with the gaskets they were intended to work with. Personally I like the fel pro 9441's, I've had them to 27-28psi and mid 10's without failure and the last time I had my heads off to fix a valve issue the gaskets looked perfect and they had around 200 passes on them.

My car late last year developed a fuel system problem that ended up being a bad fuel pump relay in the hotwire kit.

Really good point, the relay that comes with most hot wire kits is junk and will not last under contant duty pulling 15amps and will burn up even though it's rated at 40amps. Fuel system is not somewhere I like to have problems with and now wire a 75amp Bosch relay in any fuel system I do.

Steve

 

[Razor]

I don;t know what the boost was I turned it down before I got on the dyno.
Julio, Champion did port work on the heads but my heads already had the o-ring on them when I sent them there, I just figured they did the work on my old ones and sent them back out. How can I tell if they are for 1007 gaskets? I measured the outside dia of the o-rings the they all are 4.199" with a .040" gap between them. I called kevin and he suggested removing the o-ring and filling it with copper get them flat and run cometic gaskets. I hear some have trouble getting them to seal so I was looking at the SCS Titan Coppers. I talked to someone at webber racing saturday about it and he said the SCS ones would work with the o-ring where it is on my head but I'm thinking of having it removed. When it blew on the dyno they had wideband hooked up and it was running rich in the 10's and 11's so based on that I don't think it went lean. Some people around here seen the gasket that did not blow and said it looks like it went because of the o-ring on the fireing ring it could not seal it was suppose to go around it into the gasket is this right? Thanks, Jason

I dont dyno.. :redface: I think when the HG goes its a lot of different things.

No problems with the cometic.. I just shoot some copper spray on them.. a pack of GM seal tabs.. never a leak. But the surface finish has to be correct. Some install them dry. Its a flip the coin deal.

If you are going to get them surfaced, send em to Tom at Champion. He has the ability to surface them properly.

To use stock HG and o-ring.. I wouldnt. Just my opinion.. but as you know how opinions are.

 

[turbocody]

talk about lifting the heads!