headgasket question?

[shmed]

was wondering about the headgasket cooling holes.
4.1 block with 1026 felpro gaskets
cooling holes seemed to be blocked by the gasket... any suggestions?
see pics

 

[EVIL]

I’m not sure about your 4.1 block or gasket but not all cooling holes are exposed and some holes on the gasket are smaller than the holes on the block and heads. purposely.

D

 

[MeanBuicks]

Here's a stocker for comparison. Ther are some differences in the coolant holes.

Are you going to run aluminum heads?

 

[shmed]

no running cast heads

 

[shmed]

just strange when the coolant passages are pretty much blocked

 

[earlbrown]

The reason they're blocked is because you want the coolant in the block to go to the back of the block before it goes up into the heads. Google search 'series cooling' for more info. The small holes that are exposed are to burp out air and help avoid air pockets that lead to localized boiling (fun fact: steam is 1600 times bigger than water).

The side effect of that is the front cylinders run the coldest and the front combustion chambers run the hottest. Some newer engines utilize 'parallel cooling' where a metered amount of water is bled upwards between cylinders. The science is to have a more even temp on the combustion chambers since you have to tune to your weakest hole.


What's odd is that your 4.1 block doesn't have steam holes between the cylinders on the low side. On my build I drilled my 8445's so the air could burp out on those areas since water can flow between the cylinder liners. It might not be a bad idea to seal up that deck and put a small hole there in the discolored areas before the heads go on.