The "I'm a big dumbass award goes to..."

To me, to me, thank you, thank you. With a mere 88,000 miles and some fairly minor mods I HAVE managed to blow my headgasket (happy happy joy joy). It was only like 50 degrees out. The moral of the story is to remember to tighten the screw that holds on the upper radiator hose clamp AFTER you are done swapping supercharger pullies.

Anyway, that said. I believe that it is a blown head gasket due to the muddy colored crap that I find when I pull out the oil dipstick.

Questions are as follows:

While I would like the experience of replacing my headgaskets myself, I'm afraid that were I to take things apart (in a friends garage - as in the kind attached to their house, not as in a garage garage), that I would quickly find myself in over my head... like the pistons or rods or rings may be damaged to the high pressure of the water being in the engine (and the engine being run - it won't run anymore btw).

So... unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to take the thing to the mechanic for umpteen thousand dollars.

Assuming I do, what other things aught to be replaced, or can conveniently be replaced while the head is off to get a new gasket (or due to the fact that the oil is contaminated am I likely to have to have even more than that replaced due to it being damaged??)

Thanks for help and advice. Also, if you could give a bit more of a detailed description or suggestion... such as, instead of saying "get a new cam" or "get new pistons" or "get new rods" if you could make a suggestion as to what kind you would recommend...

Also (lastly) when I talked about this as a hypothetical with my mechanic a few weeks ago, we also talked about the possibility of reducing the compression (via a thicker headgasket) to allow for increased boost. What are your feelings on this?

Thanks,
Paul (from SC to NA to NR (not-running!) in 30 days - can I sell that as a book idea?)

OMG !!!!!!!!! That Sux !

Jeff

You may give it some thought on O-ringing the top end .good luck

I JUST got my entire engine re-built. You want to make sure its just a gasket and not something further, so you dont put it back together and still have a problem. Then you need to decide that, since you have it apart (and we all know on SC's that pulling them down isnt the easiest) whether or not its a good idea to overhaul or re-build it while its open. My re-build cost me $2100 even. That included decking the heads, line hone, short turning the ports, and i needed a new connecting rod. So...thats one option. An overhaul will be a lot less because you dont need the machine work done....so....just check on what you really need. While its open, some roller rockers wouldnt be a bad upgrade...the Super Coupe Performance website sells a set.