The LOVELY head gasket problem

ok...i just bought my SC 3 days ago. Its a 93 5-speed. Its at about 130k and the only problems when i bought it were the 2nd gear syncro and the clutch slave cylinder leaks a lil. Now i got rough idle, lots of white smoke and burnt coolant smell! I think i caused the problem though......forgot to check the coolant when i checked everything else......well after a nice 2 gear burnout and some hard throttleing...i got 1 maby both headgaskets blown. I read enough posts on the whole headgasket delima and i knew about 3.8's and that problem long before i bought this car...but can me, my dad, and my hot rod uncle dismantle my poor engine and get it back together correctly? I mean we all know our stuff about cars, so it should be no big deal...but the whole supercharger thing's got me scared!! Is it really a big deal? or is it gonna be a normal operation for 3 car guys to pull off? what little problems will we encounter that you seasoned SC vets can forewarn me of? Just little stuff like that....im not gonna tear into it until i aquire a service manual of some sort and save a lil money for possibly new heads...or if the old ones are ok (pray for me) the 3A valve and port and polish But like i said....any tips and tricks to make it as painless as possible would be greatly appriciated......i'll post you guys and gals a pic of it soon....its an awsome lookin car! by the way, all the pics i've seen browsing the message boards today....nice cars ya'll! keep em that way!

You guy's should'nt have any problems, just get a GOOD manual(pref Helms if possable) and you should be good to go. Oh theres a possability that your freindships might get strained on this project. These cars are a bitch to work on and they might be ready to kill you for talking them into this before its over. LOL!!!

Thanks man...thats reassurance i needed! My dad wants to...but i think im gonna have to rope my uncle into it....so we'll see. You SC and XR-7 people seem to be a pretty tight kint group of people. And not cocky and "im better than you" like the mustang guys. I admire that and im glad i can be a part of that! Im gonna take some pics tonight of My wounded SC....i'll post em on here...its sharp and kinda different. I think it'll fit in nicely! thanks again! Oh by the way.....whats the chance i didn't blow a head gasket but cracked a head? Just wondered...thanks again

you can handle it ranger. it is just a pushrod motor under all the junk. three bolts hold on the charger, jus unhook all the stuff and label or take pictures. for me the power steering was the worst, i can weld so i just cut the bracket.

Ive not heard of many cracked SC heads. The odds are on your side.

right on guys. Now just incase th heads are messed up....what do i replace them with and where can i get them? Im startin work on it this morning, then i got to be at the track for some friends of mine tonght or i'd be workin on it all day long...thanks again

GET PORTED HEADS

if you go to the classified section of this board you can find the heads for sale, pretty cheap. Get ported ones, youll thank yourself later I promise. And dont worry about working on the sc, I was a strictly rotary mechanic untill my sc, hell its the first piston engine Ive really worked on and I ripped my engine out and replaced it as soon as I bought my car so you should be fine. Just read the manual and use the forum search function. good luck

Take the time to have your heads milled to ensure they are still perfectly flat.Doesnt cost that much at machice shop

WHAT TO USE

GO WITH THE 4.2 SS HG,S ALSO GO TO TECH SITE,S USE SEARCH FOR ANY THING YOU MIGHT NOT REALLY UNDERSTAND...........FAST FREDDIE

Before you take it apart, look for contamination of the oil. If it looks murky at all, then go get a mechanical oil pressure gauge and install it in the sending unit port on the left side of the timing cover. Put some new oil (cheap generic is fine) in it, and test the oil pressure! If you do not have 65psi cold idle, and 35-40 warm idle, or 60+ warm at 2000rpm and above, then you have bearing damage. Don't make the mistake of putting on new headgaskets only to have a rod knock!

If that is ok, then you will need a few special tools.

Spring lock release tools for the fuel lines
t-30 torx for the fuel rails
air chisel for the heat sheild on the driver side down pipe
power steering pulley removal tool (throw away that stupid bracket)
and some patience.

Once the heads are off, note where the gaskets blew out, most likely the pass rear with the driver rear close behind.

If the heads check out ok, you MUST resurface them, but I would also VERY seriously recommend at least a mild port job on the exhaust side. Even a couple hundred dollars spent here will pay back dividends many times over. Any shop can do it and it really is necessary.

Thank you guys so much! All this information is gonna help so much! I took some pics of the car today before i hid it in the corner of my uncle's shop. but it will be back on the road before 2 long! one more question.....what can i do say i want to buy a new short block for the car? Does anybody make the SC short block? I know a regular 3.8 block won't work...but what about the 4.2???? will it hold up to the supercharger and work with all the stuff i got?? just wondered...keep the info comming! I appriciate it more than i can express over the internet! Thanks again!

No the std 4.2 will not last long with the blower on it.
I'd recomend rebuilding your shortblock if it needs it, at least you know what you already have.

if ya really want to swap out the engine, go with an '03 cobra motor

Ok...got a serious new development in the whole head gasket thing. I drove it like 6 blocks to my uncles place, only when i got there....i found a massive amount of coolant in my oil! Of corse i tripped about it. my uncle said that it was normal for a badly blown headgasket or cracked head to dump water into the oil. i was still trippin. Im gonna run the oil pressure check that was reccomended to me. But i won't be able to do **** till the weekend......it sitting in there aint gonna seriously **** **** up is it? I need to know cuz if so....i'll do my damnest to get dowm there and change it....i need to know. Or is there even a possibility i cracked the block? if i did im screwed. Im gonna hope and pray that its just the HG.....later all

If you have anti freeze in the oil.It would be a good idea to
replace the rod and main bearings.You would be better off
just going through the hole bottom end,with the mileage on
the your SC.

If you do not rebuild the bottom end,you have
a good chance that the bearings could seise,or a rod could
start knocking in 7 to 30 days later.

On rebuilding you heads.I would port the exhaust port.You
can do this yourself.Get your gasket set.And put the exhaust gasket
against the exhaust port and scribe the shape of the gasket on
the port.And do the same with the intake.

Get ahold of a die grinder,a straight sided carbide bit,and a round
noise cabide bit,some 100,150, 200 grit tapered rolled sandind rolls.
You can buy these at a machine tool place or hemmings.

To gasket match your heads start with holding the die grinder about
45 degrees.And make a cut with the straight carbide bit ,at 45 degrees
and about 1/2 inch into the port allmost all the way to you scribed
line,leave about 0.25 to 0.30 from the line.

Then with the 100 grit tapered sanding rolls blend in your 45 degree
cut with the port.Blend in the side & roof walls of the port almost
straight tapering in 1 1/2 inch in the port.On the floor of the port
blend the 45 degree cut making it round while blending in about
1 1/2 inch in the port.

On the exhaust side of the exhaust port.IT should come out the same size
as the exhaust header or a tad smaller.If not port out the header port
to be the same or larger.And while your doing the header.Grind out the
collector to two inch.You will see a flat lip on the end of the collector.Cut
out to the outside ring on this flat part,this will give you about 2 inches.

You can clean the rest of the exhaust port up by just smoothing and
blending in.On the inside at the end of the port just before the bowl area
is a bump.On the side of the port closes to the intake side.Dont make a
cut there ,behind it is a water jacket.You can slightly blend in the front and
back of this bump 0.25 to 0.30. but you will need to tig weld up if you go to far.
The bump should be cut out and welded,then blend back in for a good flow.

If your feeling good about how your using the grinder.You can cut the valve
guide all the way down to the roof of the port,for more flow.And then blend
in the bowl area.This part also needs some weld build up but don't do it if
you don't have a machie shop at hand.

On the valve job, a shop that uses a serdi machine or style cut is best.You can
have this shop make a cut before you start the port job.They can make a cut
that will go into the port about 1/2 inch .This will give you a guide line for blending
the bowl area of the port when porting.Then go back to the shop to get the
rest of the valve job done.I like to cut my valve seat at 31 degrees,46 degrees,
60 dergees, 72degess.The margins on the cuts should be held to 0.50 max width.

I can write some more if you want some more CFMs.

Randy

Thanks for the info...but i got a friend who does that kinda porting work. I've already talked to him and he said he'll do it cheap! bu i think im gonna go through the bottom end neways. Is there a company that sells after market forged pistons and rods? how about hardend steel cranks? better yet..how about a brand new short block? Any body do those? thanks

There is a group buy going on right now for rods,pistons,total seal rings,ect.
in the gp section of this site.BTM is having it,

DR.FRED had a 4.3 billet crank made.You can get ahold of him.

Good luck on your rebuild.Randy

This is AWSOME!

Hey all,
I finally got around to tearing into my bird. First we pulled the spark plugs, they had no appearance of burning any kind of water what so ever. So then we ran a compression check.....it came out just fine....so we were stumped! another family member and a friend of my uncles both said check the intake gaskets first. they both have dealt with ford 3.8L engines...but not of the supercharged kind...so i was skeptical and looking at having a cracked block. No sooner than i got the top end of the motor tore off, and begain removing the intake......every damn bolt was loose...well...not finger loose...but not torqued like they were supposed to be....sure enough...the drivers side intake gasket was cracked and warped around the front water passage...it was leaking coolant str8 into my oil, and in turn, causing the crank case pressure to skyrocket and cause the steaming out of the exhaust......im happy as hell....but there were 2 other things that really upset me. First...i was planning on changing the sc fluid seince i had it off and could just drain it out, well i pulled out the plug and didn't see any fluid! I tripped....turned tha damn thing upside down and there might have been enough in it to fill a shot glass! but the sc still spins freely, has no play and was never noisey while i was driving the car...so im thinkin it'll be just fine. The second thing was that...well this wasn't really upsetting..but my shift problems wern't due to a screwed up trans, it was the shifter! there was basically nothing left of it! lol.....so after a trip to the parts store and a call to Bill at SCP, i got my intake and other assorted gaskets, sealing tape for the sc system, sc fluid and a B&M shifter! Its going back together this weekend,,im excited...thanks for the help guys.
Wes

You better change the head gaskets while you have the engine torn down this far. Might as well. It would sure suck to put it back together and blow a gasket in like 2 weeks and have to tear it down again. I can have an SC down to the short block in about 3.5 hours in the car. Much less time if the motor is pulled out and on a stand.

The head gaskets aren't that hard of a job. I hate seeing people cry about it. If I can do it, most people that can turn a wrench will be able to. Hope you labeled your vac connections to the supercharger inlet plenum. I taped everything off and numbered them. Then just reconnect #1 to #1, #2 to #2, etc...

Label and bag all your bolts. And like Dave said, the ps/wp bracket is junk, if you pulled off the ps pulley to loosen the bracket, discard it. Neither of my SC's have it.

Soooooo ummmm which one of your smarter people than me wants to change my headgaskets when they blow lol.Thats one job i'm not set up to tackle I'm gonna flip if they decide to blow at 140k I plan on runnin my car this weekend for the first time since i've bought it used no upgrades done to it I've only replaced a few parts that were needed.I dunno any good mechanics in florida .