Well, there goes the head gaskets!

lanteau

Registered User
On the way home from work last night, I got on the pedal and up high in the RPMs it made a rattling noise that didn't sound good (looking back it was probably pre detonation) so I got off the pedal, looked in my rear view mirror and just a huge cloud of white smoke. The thing looked like a fog machine. I pulled off the road and it stalled before I could shut it off, so clearly the water flooded the cylinders. It will turn over slowly, again probably because of water being in the combustion chambers. The exhaust pressurized the coolant system and blew all the water out of the radiator cap. Pretty sure its the passenger side because I think the previous owner replaced the driver side, but I will replace both this time. I was considering MLS gaskets, but I only plan on having the heads decked, not the block so I think maybe I should stay away from MLS? I was thinking the regular composite style would be plenty good enough with ARP studs. I was just going to buy the head gasket repair kit from SCP, good idea? Thanks.
 
Hmm, what are you thinking? It ran maybe 15 seconds tops after they blew. The oil doesn't look like a total milkshake, a little milk on the bottom of dipstick but overall it looks like oil still. I was figuring the rest of the engine is pretty safe.
 
Yep sure can I've never decked the block on any of the supercoupes I've put MLS gaskets on and I've NEVER had a problem with sealing

just be sure you spray both sides of the gaskets with copper spray

and don't forget about that rivet

I torque the ARP head studs to 105 ft lbs
 
decked meaning just a resurface to make sure everything is straight and clean?

When I hear "DECKED" I think cutting off material to raise compression by lowering chamber CC.
 
you'll need to resurface the heads to make sure there flat again, usually when you blow head gaskets you'll warp the heads

also electrolysis plagues our cylinder heads due to dissimilar materials, aluminum heads and cast block so be sure when you get the heads surfaced theirs minimal pits on the deck, I had to shave .01" off a set of heads once just to get rid of the electrolysis

You don't usually have to resurface the deck of the block, the soft aluminum usually gives way before the iron does.
 
so long as the engine did not get to hot your block will be fine. you'll have gasket crap formed on the block. use a non-metallic scraper to take that off. the mls gaskets are fine or you can use normal gaskets. if the normal ie felpro ext, make sure you use copper spray. make sure to drain all water from block, rad ext. you dont want any old coolant left over. drain the crank now and let it keep draining until you get it all put back together. do your self a favor that you'll thank yourself for. get the heads ported and over sized valves. you'll love it. once i got mine back together i started it for 10min, changed oil, ran it for 200miles changed oil and then the final oil change at 1500miles. once you get it going do not get on it until atleast 1500miles. give the gaskets time to seat well. if using arp studs re torque around 6 times with about 30min between each torque to make sure torque are not lost due to settling. if regular head bolts then same thing but about 1 hour in between and thats all for the torque to yield. other then crank or cam this is about the most critical part of your engine. take your time and do it right. you dont want to have to come back and do it again. 1.875 and 1.60 valves are good valves for these heads. some shops may be able to fit 1.90intake valves. your heads are a center fulcrum for most all of your other mods, keep future possible upgrades in mind when redoing heads.
 
Okay a few more questions I've come up with. Should I get the MLS gaskets for the 1997 F150 4.2L as stated above, or MLS out of a 3.8 mustang? I heard someone say the Mustang ones have some coating on them and don't have that rivet to drill out so they are better. So which ones? I still should use copper spray on the MLS gaskets, correct? Should I use copper spray on the new exhaust manifold gaskets? I want to replace the exhaust manifold bolts, where can I get those?
 
I'm not aware of any that don't have the rivet. If you feel significant amounts of coolant entered the combustion chamber, i.e. engine stalled because of it, you should check deck height on each cylinder once you pull the heads. If coolant caused the engine to die, it may have hydro-locked and bent a rod.
 
I'm pretty sure it's not hydro-locked, it will still turn over, but very slowly. This is from what I figured is water being inside a cylinder, water isn't going to compress like air would therefore it makes it very difficult to turn over. But when it did turn over it didn't sound any different or anything, just slow. But i guess I won't know until I get it all apart. So there's no difference between the 3.8 Mustang gaskets and the 4.2L truck ones?
 
The Mustang gaskets are coated, the truck ones are not. There is no reason you couldn't run standard Fel Pro SC gaskets, why spend $150 on gaskets when the $25 set will work just fine. As for the exhaust manifold gaskets I use copper RTV.
 
the complete HG kit at auto zone is 75.99.... they always did it for me.

same set i used, i also applied copper spray to the head gaskets(block side only). something kinda funny about the gasket set at auto zone, orielly's has the exact same set even the part number is the same for around $150. they know about it and will change the price if you say something, otherwise they will rip ya off. might as well get a new thermostat while your at it. be careful with the bolts on the back side of the heads, they like to break off, had to have stiegemeiers drill one out for me. once you get it apart you'll get to see how dirty around the engine really is, you might want to get about 4cans of break cleaner and 4 cans of engine degreaser. let the degreaser soak in and then the brake cleaner blasts all that crud right off.

if you decide to bypass the a/c ask for a 97 f-350 pulley. the one they have listed for our cars is a 6 rib, the f-350 is the 8 rib. they only keep it at the hub so you'll have to order it, same with the gasket set.

if you have the stock tb, most likely the water hoses on the bottom of it will not come off intact, if you decide to hook that back up you'll need about 8inches of hose.
 
I've taken the coolant lines off the TB before when I did valve cover gaskets and they came off fine. Is the coating on the Mustang MLS gaskets make them better or not? Should I spray only the block side of the head gasket, or can I spray both sides? Where can I get exhaust manifold bolts?
 
Is the coating on the Mustang MLS gaskets make them better or not?

The coating on the felpro MLS Permatorque head gaskets is to improve sealing when the deck and head surface is not of an ideal smoothness. The non-coated MLS head gaskets have a very high smoothness required for proper sealing. Thus the coating increases the applications that MLS gaskets can be used on.
 
I have a question, not trying to jack this thread but, has any one used solid copper gaskets for our SC's , the reason i ask is great works can make custom head gaskets . would solid copper head gaskets be better or I'm just a noob and need to keep reading lol.


never mind, I found a good article on head gaskets so any one who don't know a lot about head gaskets might want to read this..



http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article/1260/engine_sealing_high_performance_head_gaskets.aspx
 
Last edited:
Alright, so the mustang ones that have the coating sound like a better way to go. I only plan on resurfacing the heads. What year V6 mustang should I tell autozone to get the headgaskets? What's the proper felpro part number?
 
Personally, unless you are going to do something to try for over 300rwhp on the car, I wouldn't bother with the MLS gaskets. I don't believe you can get the mustang ones in a kit that will work on your sc.

For a stock head gasket job, I would just use the felpro upper engine kit for the SC that comes with their standard head gaskets, and use ARP head studs. But if you want the MLS, here you go:

Headgaskets can be orderd from a local parts store. www.Rockauto.com may be able to beat their price.

ARP Head studs can be ordered through a local engine rebuilder, or from www.summitracing.com or through www.jegs.com

Here are the numbers:
ARP Head Studs 233-4003
Felpro Permatorque MLS gasket for the 98 Mustang 3.8. Part Numbers: PN 9262PT and 9263PT (left and right)

p.s. Copper head gaskets have been tried by people before and they are simply a pain in the arse. cold water leaks seemed to be the most often complaint. The MLS head gasket design is one of the best head gasket designs to come out in a long time. It should be better than even copper.

oh, and another note, Felpro has a coated MLS gasket for the F150 application. In particular the 1998 Ford F150 4.2 #9250PT has a coating on it just like the mustang gaskets. Alot of this was discussed in 2006 in this thread:
http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72873
 
Last edited:
Back
Top