My heads have never been off my car, have yours?

[14mins]

My car has 136k miles on it and the heads have never been off. Still running the factory turbo. I bought the car in 1991 and have drive3n it over 100k of the miles. I have done all the bolt ones and upgraded the injectors, valve springs, rjc, razors alky kit and the list goes on and on. It does leak a little oil, not to bad.

On one hand i would like to tear it apart and build it the way i want to, but i have the old if it is not broke do not try to fix it. I hate the thought of tossing the turbo for a bigger one when nothing is mechanicly wrong with the stock one. The car runs excellent so i hate to tear into it.

I am drawing the line at 175k miles and going thru it reguardless. The only problem is that could be at least 2 more years. Maybe razors alky kit will speed up the rebuild process.

Have you rebuilt you motor and or have the heads been off and at what mileage.

 

[1chance]

Heads been off so many time i cant count, went thru my engine at 80,000 miles after i blew HG!

 

[gusszgs]

I would think the Razor's kit is delaying the rebuild, prolonging engine life.

 

[chadly]

Lots of cars have gone a lot further than yours in stock form. However, if you’ve not changed the timing chain and valve springs your asking for trouble.

 

[chadly]

My bad. I see you did do the valve springs. Oh and my heads have not been off yet (100k). I run high 11's with 22lbs of boost.

 

[SCOOBY DOO]

My car has 136k miles on it and the heads have never been off. Still running the factory turbo. I bought the car in 1991 and have drive3n it over 100k of the miles. I have done all the bolt ones and upgraded the injectors, valve springs, rjc, razors alky kit and the list goes on and on. It does leak a little oil, not to bad.

On one hand i would like to tear it apart and build it the way i want to, but i have the old if it is not broke do not try to fix it. I hate the thought of tossing the turbo for a bigger one when nothing is mechanicly wrong with the stock one. The car runs excellent so i hate to tear into it.

I am drawing the line at 175k miles and going thru it reguardless. The only problem is that could be at least 2 more years. Maybe razors alky kit will speed up the rebuild process.

Have you rebuilt you motor and or have the heads been off and at what mileage.

Run a compression check on it and see what you come up with. Personally, if it were running as nice as you say it does, I'd leave it alone. But that's just me.

 

[Beast_TR]

Mine have never been off either from the best that I can tell, and I hope to keep it that way. However if the time ever does come that they do need to come off I am going through the whole engine while I am at it and freshening everything up and throwing some forged and billet parts at it while I am in there.

 

[pacecarta]

mine went 132K many many track runs , similar to yours , springs , injectors alky, timing chain, duttneck ,powerplate yada yada but never touched the head bolts
went 11.42 with a ta 49 and was a consistent 12.0x with the stocker
then a cam lobe went down and caught it quick because i was racing and noticed the ET drop off and was only a few miles from home so i drove it back and fixed it
what finally prompted the heads to come off was 6 months after the new cam went in it too wiped a lobe (not the same spot or side of engine either) and i was about 60 miles from home at a race event when i felt the miss and new it was a lobe going south , i pulled the covers in the pits and sure enough#4 exhaust pushrod wasn't spinning , tried to drive it home but within about 40 miles it was apparent the lobe was causing other issues as the oil pressure dropped

so when i got home it was at 0 at idle so that finished the 132K never opened status ,becuase it would have to come apart to flush it out rebearing it replace the junk cam and lifters and do the pump
suprise on teardown was the head gaskets were fine , pistons and bores were still std and showed no wear and compression was 145 all cylinders, only damage was the edelbrock cam lobe and the lifter and some of the mains were scuffed and the oil pump plate was worn (before that day pressure was 23 hot - 50 normal cruise with 5W-30)

i wouldnt tear it apart to mod up
find another 109 , new front cover , maybe an intake and build it to your tastes , pull yours out , strip off what you might need leaving the heads and bottom end together and put it on the shelf , you know its a good runner and someday you may find the built one needs to be redone or repaired downthe line , your stocker can fill the hole till it is , and your car wont be sitting as an empty shell

 

[8UWITH6]

GN has 74K miles heads never off. Ive beat on the car for 12K miles and 9 years. Even had the engine out to change bearings/cam/re-gasket and clean up back in 2001. We didnt pull the heads when it was out! Car has gone bottom 11's many times. "IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT"

 

[300kGN]

probably jinxing old crusty

Guss is right, alcohol should help prevent HG and bearing failure by preventing detonation and related stresses.
I agree with you in regards to leaving well enough alone But its wise to address items such as leaks, timing set, springs...
To answer your question, mine has about 300k. When I replaced the springs, the valve cover gaskets appeared to be factory. I think the head gasket have fused it all together on borrowed time.

 

[Roc87]

Dang man, 300k miles!? How many times have you done timing chain and springs? I guess mine is just breaking in at 154k

I agree with pacecarta, find another block to mod, I'm thinking of doing the same. Keeping my stock longblock together, and finding another block for a roller cam, ported irons and a dbb67

 

[zeus87gn]

201k miles and still running strong. Only thing I have had to go into the motor for is vavle cover gaskets and timing chain. Otherwise it's still original.

Zeus is presently undergoing Ttop rust surgery - because the dipsh!ts at Deeters (sp?) in Columbus Ga didn't do what they said my wife paid for 10years ago. I just looked and and I don't think they're in business anymore, damnit. They guaranteed thier work against anything but a Georgia pine tree. So much for getting her money back.

I'm going to do some header freshening and replace the turbo. Maybe some new control arms and rebuild the diff. Got some valve springs too. I'm sure I'm forgetting something else I want to do. there's always something else! It's been a long time coming and will probably take a while because of all the other vehicles I am working on as well. I now have 6 in my fleet.