Blown head gasket in my nice 91 SC

Torino Cobra

Registered User
Just blew the head gasket in my black 91 SC. Did my White 90 six years ago, and am not looking forward to it as it is unusully cold this week in memphis. Thank god for SCCOA forums and the search engine. Lots of good ideas to step up the power while I have the heads off. Does all the porting of the exaust manifokds and gasket matching the heads make much difference? I guess its not that much trouble but it is time I could be using to put it all back together faster. What kind of power gains are we talking about, 10, 20, 50 HP or is it more? Thanks guys! The car has about 130,000 on it and I shut it down in less than 60 seconds. To much right foot causing boost gage to peg for to long I guess. The car is stock and never blown gaskets before.
 
I would say no. Porting the heads is a good idea as would be installing a mild cam but just port matching the heads and working on the exhaust manifolds will not make any difference.
 
Thanks

Thanks Dave thats what I wanted to know. A lot of people talk about the lower end of the exaust manifolds. What can you tell me about that. Dave, anyone are y'all there?
 
Just remember that if you're going to put in a new cam you have to pull the balancer off and they are one time use. So factor in the cost of an aftermarket balancer and time down while waiting for the part to arrive if you decide to go down that route.
 
you're going to get mixed responses on the benefits of welding up the floor of the exhaust ports. Some people swear by it, others insist no gain at all. I personally haven't dealt with it
 
Balancer

How come the balancers are 'one time use'?


Just remember that if you're going to put in a new cam you have to pull the balancer off and they are one time use. So factor in the cost of an aftermarket balancer and time down while waiting for the part to arrive if you decide to go down that route.
 
The snout is aluminum and stretches when you pull it off. you CAN re-use a stock balancer but as Clint would say, "do you feel lucky". It could last 5 mins or 5 years or somewhere in between. The after market BHJ is steel and re-usable and let you sleep at nights.
 
I got away with re-using mine. It then just snapped clear around the hub one day. I had a pain in the ~~~ time to drill into the broken piece and pull it off with a small steering wheel type puller.

I saved up and bought a BHJ and put it on the night before the shootout. It took a little honing to get it to go over the snout of the crank (had to use a longer bolt and a washer to pull it on). Then I put the new longer hardened bolt and washer in, torqued it down, and put on my new Zero Balanced ASP Underdrive pullies. I can now sleep easy at night knowing that's probably the last balancer I need to buy for this car.

Now I need to get one for my other SC's.

I am to the point where I don't even trust a stock balancer over 100k miles. If it's been removed before, forget about it.
 
thanks guys

thanks for all the good advice, dont think i will mess with the cam. Seems like I am not the only guy with the 3 SC bug. wonder how many are multiple owners, half i guess. I know I can pick them up around memphis cheap when they are broke, why the salvage yards evan crush them(wince)all the time round here so better get em while they last. I really like the ride and handleing evan stock. Saw a 35th last summer but was low on funds, told the kid to post it here and he got more than twice what he was going to sell to me for. I love this place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!























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