I blew a Headgasket last night.

[turbotaone]

I'm not sure how it happened exactly, I was racing a Ford Lightning(I beat him the first run)and all of a sudden "POW"
it sounded like a large firecracker going off under my hood and
then pop,pop,pop,pop sounds like a bad exaust leak coming
from no.1 cylinder. So I pulled over and opened the hood and
there wasn't any fluid leakage and the temp. and oil pressure
were ok so I started to drive it home with the Lightning following
me. I made it about a mile and the temp. started going up so I
pulled over and let it cool down and then added some water, it
didn't even take a half gallon to top it off. I started it up and
drove the rest of the way home and the temp. never went over
160*. I was running 20lbs.of boost with a zylene mix all summer
with 0 knock and I had the same set up last night when this
happened. Only thing I can figure is with the cooler temperature
last night(40*) I should of raised my fuel pressure, which I didn't
and it went lean. Anyhow I need some advise on which head
gasket to use(stock or the metal shim type)and should I take the
head to a machine shop and have it checked for warpage? Are
there any things that I should watch out for when changing the
headgasket? Did I do more damage by driving it home?,it was
late at night and I was only 15 miles from home, so I thought
what the hell. Any helpful advise will be appreciated.

Thanks
James

Hey Razor, I sure wished that I had that alky kit last night

 

[1badTTA]

I'll chime in on this as I have done it several times.

Take off bothe heads and have them machined for safety. Get the stacked steal shims from racejace. Get ARP bolts as you can't reuse the original torque to yuck bolts. Get a knock gauge so it won't happen again.

In case you are wondering, you will still blow the steal shims before the bottom end (don't ask) so don't worry about that.

If the oil doesn't look like a chocolate milkshake (no coolant in oil) then you probably didn't do any damage to the bottom end by driving it home. You should take the pan off and remove any gasket debris from the oil pickup screen though as the gaskets are pretty messy and you don't want any future problems (pretty simple on these V6's)

HTH

BTW, I can have the heads laying on the bench still warm

 

[Lee_Burough]

The story you describe is a scene right out of one of my worst nightmares

 

[turbotaone]

Thanks for the reply 1badTTA, I was wondering if I have room to
get the heads off and on with the engine still in the car?

James

 

[1badTTA]

You can leave the turbo and alternator on and still getthe heads off. The biggest pain is the A/C bracket as you will be there for a while with a 15mm wrench (go to ACE and buy a 15mm gearwrench ratcheting boxend, you will thank me for telling you) turning it 1/12th turn and flipping the wrench. Drop the crossover and unbolt the downpipe. Unbolt the Intake but leave it in place (saves alot of time hooking it all back up) but you must remove the fuel lines from the regulator to getthe DS valve cover and head out. Also unbolt both headers and just move them around t oget teh room needed.

When you order the ARP bolts, skip 6 washers as you won't be able to use them on the outer bolts under the header flange.

I believe johnsperformance has a kit of the ARP bolts made up for the TTA.

I am trying to cover as much as I can that is TTA specific about changing the HG's since you will be able to find the rest of the info on gnttype.org and using the search feature here.

Parts required include HeadGaskets, ARP bolts, Intake Gasket, and oil pan gasket. (don't waste your money on a "complete gasket set" as it will include none of the needed gaskets)

HTH

 

[turbotaone]

You have been a great help 1badTTA

Thanks again
James

 

[trading t/a]

Clean the **** out of the deck. Take a wire brush on a drill and clean it very good. I also use Blue type lock tite when redoing the head bolts. Now is the time to clean the tops of the pistons very well also. Carbon buildup leads to hot spots which lead to preignition(aka detonation). also I usually retourqe the top side cylinder head bolts after a few heat cycles Seems that the tourqe rating changes after a few boost pulls and heat cycles. Do yourself a favor and take off the vc's after you are done and retourqe the head bolts.....

 

[1badTTA]

Originally posted by trading t/a
Clean the **** out of the deck. Take a wire brush on a drill and clean it very good. I also use Blue type lock tite when redoing the head bolts. Now is the time to clean the tops of the pistons very well also. Carbon buildup leads to hot spots which lead to preignition(aka detonation). also I usually retourqe the top side cylinder head bolts after a few heat cycles Seems that the tourqe rating changes after a few boost pulls and heat cycles. Do yourself a favor and take off the vc's after you are done and retourqe the head bolts.....

I don't agree on the blue loctite, I always use ARP assembley lube on the heads and washers and also the threads (never had any leaks)

It is a very good idea to retorque the top bolts (bottoms are impossible without removing headers) but when I have retorqued them, I didn't find any difference in torque. I have also retorqued them after blowing another HG (just to see) and only once did I find a problem and it was where it blew but since it was missing a large chunk there is no way to tell if that was the problem.

Just on a side note: If you do go with the stacked steal shims, I would recomend enlarging the coolant holes on the top more than they already are and using very little goop around them. Otherwise they can get plugged from the sealer and cause cooling problems.

Unfortunately for me I am probably the King of changing HG's in TTA's. The pile is pretty tall nowadays but I pretty much have it down to a science

Good luck and sorry you have to go through this.

 

[turbotaone]

When you say enlarge the coolant holes, are you talking about
the holes in the headgaskets? and do I have to use any sealer
on the head bolts that go into the water jackets(thought I read
that somewhere) And one last question, since I'm going to have
the heads off, is it worth it to have a little port work done on
them?

Thanks
James

 

[Razor]

James, my kit would of saved ya. Sorry to hear bout that.

I have the other method, I use the standard felpros HG's with the ARP bolts and torque em down to 80 FT LBS. I use the locktite thread sealer part number 567 on the threads and lube the bottom of the ARP heads with moly so they dont stick when torquing. The factory TTYL head bolts have a sealant under the heads, hence why I put the sealant on the threads.

Dont use any of the washers, washers are included for those that run aluminum heads..hey its ARP..what can I say. Use a tap and clean out the holes..yes get them resurfaced.. Dont have to pull the motor..that passenger sde is a mother.

Aside from that...1badTTA has the bases covered.. havent done HG's on mine yet..one day...

 

[turbotaone]

Thanks Razor, the alky kit is definitely at the top of my priority
list now(right after the tranny) But now I'm a little confused
about which headgasket I should use. I guess it's kinda a
personal preferance thing, right?

James

 

[TurboTA3.8]

Originally posted by 1badTTA


When you order the ARP bolts, skip 6 washers as you won't be able to use them on the outer bolts under the header flange.

HTH

DON'T skip the six washers they are a load washer to help distribute the load evenly under the headbolt just grind the washer thickness out of the header little more work but its the right way to do it also the felpro 1000 gasket stock gm gasket and the steel shim seemed to be able to handle the same power till they blow i have ran them all i like the felpro 1000 for the easy of cleanup

george

 

[TTA89]

Originally posted by Razor


Aside from that...1badTTA has the bases covered.. havent done HG's on mine yet..one day...

As long as your carefull you shouldn't ever blow a headgasket. They only blow when the car detonates.

Do you have a scanmaster in the car? Were you watching the 02 voltage and the knock count?

 

[turbotaone]

Yes I agree with you TTA89, this shouldn't of happened.
I was not watching my scanmaster like I know I should.
Oh well,live and learn

James

 

[turbotaone]

Which felpro gasket do I want? I'm a little cofused here.
I was told to go with the felpro 1000 headgasket, but
Advanced auto sells a felpro 1002 headgasket for the TTA.
Are these the same gaskets?

Thanks
James

 

[1badTTA]

Originally posted by turbotaone
When you say enlarge the coolant holes, are you talking about
the holes in the headgaskets? and do I have to use any sealer
on the head bolts that go into the water jackets(thought I read
that somewhere) And one last question, since I'm going to have
the heads off, is it worth it to have a little port work done on
them?

Thanks
James

Yes I am talking about the coolant holes in the headgasket. It is roughly 5/16 when you get tehm from JAson, and mine when I took it apart was nearly plugged by the sealant. This is only with the Steal shims. It is all personal prefference which gaskets you use and is all up to you, I just prefer these.

It is recomended to use the sealer on the threads (as mentioned by Razor) but I haven't had a problem with only using assembly lube. Definately clean the threads in the block.

If you don't mind having the car apart for a while, definately do at least a good home port job. There are several threads in the tech section with a link that explains it very well.

As for skipping the 6 washers under the header flange, you can grind your headers, but if you look at the design of the head in that area, it is thick solid cast iron. Nearly all headgaskets tend to blow into the valley on the top of the head, so skipping those six washers will have little to no effect in the real world. (I sleep just fine at night knowing mine aren't there)

 

[turbotaone]

1badTTA, you said to get the steel shim gaskets from racejace,
is that aka RJC Racing?

Thanks
James