My baby is in critical condition HG blew!!!

mikedenton49

mikedenton49

Registered User
I :mad:Just had to race a stupid BMW on the highway last nite. I was doing pretty good until i seen the check gauges light illuminate, followed immediatly by loss of power, followed by a cloud of white smoke from under the hood. Called a tow truck, and he took me to a good (read expensive) garage. Some of you guys on this site make changing the gaskets among other jobs sound so easy, i bet this outside of my capability. It's gonna be around 1500 bucks.

The car will start but doesn't run good and sprays all the water out of the system even cold. No smoke out of the exhaust though. Catastrophic failure i take it.

Question, while they have it tore down, what else can i replace easily, uh, have them replace easily, to improve performance and reliability. I want to start shooting parts at them immediatly so they don't gouge me on price. speciffically gaskets and such.
 
well o make it seal better id make sure the head isn't cracked or warped. once thats ok then id go with MLS gaskets and ARP head studs to make everything like new again. And headgaskets are not really hard to do just time consuming. As far as mods go ill leave that to the experts here.
 
1990XR7SC said:
well o make it seal better id make sure the head isn't cracked or warped. once thats ok then id go with MLS gaskets and ARP head studs to make everything like new again. And headgaskets are not really hard to do just time consuming. As far as mods go ill leave that to the experts here.
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I wouldnt do MLS gaskets. To work correctly the surface of the block & heads needs to be smoother than factory. Good set of Fel Pro gaskets and put studs back in not factory bolts. It is just more of a time consuming than technical. A second pair of hands and tools you can do it yourself for a fraction of the cost. Oil will need to be changed several times to get the antifreeze out or you destroy the bearings. You can add a cam while you have down that far

Ken
 
I'll second on the Felpro. They'll be using a factory service manual of some type and may not know that the deck and heads need reworked to use the MLS gaskets. Of the three cars I've done headgaskets on, all three are doing just fine with the Felpro's.

As far as upgrades, if you're starting from stock, I think it would be better to just get some bolt-on's (MAFS, TB, SC, pullies, etc.) than mess with anything deep-down like a cam - not that it's a bad idea, especially while they're down there, that's just kinda the way I think. :)

Checking and possibly replacing the harmonic balancer may be a good idea if you're thinking preventative maintenance, since that can cause a diaster also.
 
You Tulsa people need to make it to the track sometime. Be nice to see more M90's out there :)
 
Current mods are free flow exhaust headers back, 10%pully, 76 MAFS, 3" scp intake, shift kit on auto tranny.
Stupid headgaskets. Yeah, it really sounded and looked bad. exhaust fumes cumin out the radiator. if the heads not warped i'll be surprised. so i was going to have the head pressure tested and milled and perhaps proted if anyone around here knows how to do that. I like that thought on exhaust porting, how and who can do it? Thanks for the input guys.

Mike
 
mikedenton49 said:
What else has to be done when changing the cam?
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Timing chain cover has to come off, balancer needs to come off. The radiator needs to be out of the way.I would replace the timing chain and install a mild cam at least. It will wake the engine up quite a bit even with a small cam. Say about .491 lift and you can use stock valve train. The balancers are a problem area so a BHJ balancer would save head aches later. They are pricey though. Set the timing and and reassemble everything.

Ken
 
that ten percent pulley was probably your demise...

making too much heat, starting to detonate and KABOOM! bye bye headgaskets....

of course, what am i saying... i'm doing the same on my 95.... its a dog in the high rpms after its warmed up... i can feel it pull timing on me....

but i'm TRYING to blow my gaskets to smithereens. ;):D
 
So what are you saying? That a free flowing exhaust isn't enuf to release the pressure from A 10% od??? I think the gasket was just old. These things have to happen from time to time. Just wish the car was worth what we put into them price wise. God knows we love them SC's for other reasons tho huh?
 
mikedenton49 said:
So what are you saying? That a free flowing exhaust isn't enuf to release the pressure from A 10% od??? I think the gasket was just old. These things have to happen from time to time. Just wish the car was worth what we put into them price wise. God knows we love them SC's for other reasons tho huh?
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No, the 10% makes too much heat, causing detonation. Putting major stress on your HG's
 
mikedenton49 said:
So what are you saying? That a free flowing exhaust isn't enuf to release the pressure from A 10% od??? I think the gasket was just old. These things have to happen from time to time. Just wish the car was worth what we put into them price wise. God knows we love them SC's for other reasons tho huh?
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Use to be that the theory was a 10% created to much back pressure. It is no longer beleived by most. The blower spinning faster creates more heat and detonation. Also over time there is a breakdown of the head gasket, the diffrent expansion rates of alum and steel, god knows what else. Your accessment is probably correct, the gaskets are old. My went at 145,000 miles, It didnt help running 19 lbs of boost at the time.

Ken
 
Well got some news from the garage doing the work today, they pulled the heads and are in process of milling and pressure testing. Queston? How much should I expect to pay for a proper port and polish? Nething else i can do to them? How much for roller rockers? Wish i had thousands of dollars to blow.
 
mikedenton49 said:
Well got some news from the garage doing the work today, they pulled the heads and are in process of milling and pressure testing. Queston? How much should I expect to pay for a proper port and polish? Nething else i can do to them? How much for roller rockers? Wish i had thousands of dollars to blow.
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Email Dave Dalke
 
forget the roller rockers... port the heads, add cam... if you intend on keeping the 10 percent pulley, have your blower ported... the larger outlet significantly reduces exit temps, thereby reducing your chance to det. consider upgrading your intercooler with one of ken wagners double units, or a front mount.

but continuing to run with the ten after dropping 1500+ on a hg job, without reducing the parasitic heat isnt wise...

trust me... my 95 5-speed with a ten was slower than a 95 auto with a stock pulley on the highway... gobs of low end power, but it just got flaccid in the higher rpms. top speed was also greatly reduced.
 
kenewagner said:
Use to be that the theory was a 10% created to much back pressure. It is no longer beleived by most. The blower spinning faster creates more heat and detonation. Also over time there is a breakdown of the head gasket, the diffrent expansion rates of alum and steel, god knows what else. Your accessment is probably correct, the gaskets are old. My went at 145,000 miles, It didnt help running 19 lbs of boost at the time.

Ken
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Agreed all composite gaskets will fail.....just a matter of when. If resurfacing the heads I'd go with Felpro MLS Permatorque gaskets and a set of head studs.

David
 
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