New motor/replace head gasket (Help me in MI)

So I have a 1992, 5 speed, with a blown head gasket. I took it to local ford dealer in (Kalamazoo, MI) and they said it would be around 1200 to fix. I posted before about replacing it and buying the parts and doing it myself but I just didn't have time. Well now I do...but I also have money now as well.


So what should I do?
Buy a new motor? (where from and how much?)

or

Replace head gakset (anyone want to help in Kalamazoo MI?)

or

Pay to have it replaced?


Thanks

Aim: Jiggajakewmu

The hardest part is finding out how everything comes off and what order.. After that its not all that bad....

Worst part was removing the passenger side exhaust manifold...I just cut my exhaust and put an adapter on afterwards...I didnt try unbolting it....Might have came off but I was working outside...

a camera is very helpfull when it's time to put it back to gether you can take pics and go back though them to see the order and what goes where.

I say do it yourself, you can do the job for $300-$400 in parts...the rest is just your time.

My first tip is surf the forums. Several people have documented the steps/tools/and time frame to do the job. Honestly once you do it you'll say to yourself that wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be.

I can tell you having the right tools and someone helping you, it's not hard to have it tore down in 1 day, and then put it back together in the next.

I usually use baggies to keep my bolts with what they go to or, screw bolts and nuts back onto the pieces they go to...this is far more helpful than just tossing everything into a bowl and guessing later.

-Tim

Get a new eng or do a complete rebuild on the one you have.
You don't know how much coolant went through the bearings and washed them clean!
Hate to see you do gaskets just to have a rod knock in a few weeks(seen it many times).

91BlackBird said:

Get a new eng or do a complete rebuild on the one you have.
You don't know how much coolant went through the bearings and washed them clean!
Hate to see you do gaskets just to have a rod knock in a few weeks(seen it many times).

Click to expand...

Excellent Point 91BlackBird

As much as Id hate to agree....I do....Cause all I did was head gaskets

I did head gaskets and cam for my SC....I bought my sC with blown gaskets and never drove it....The fluid was drained so the previous owner never drove it with excess coolant but when I did the heads one of the cylinders was washed out... I also think #3 bearing might have some play from the gasket ring hitting the piston and the coolant issue..

I get the SC together and the clutch doesnt feel good....So in the end I probably should have yanked the motor and tranny and replaced the bearings clutch and a simple rebuild.......Cause now...Im gonna have to do a clutch within a few months....And if Im lucky next spring Ill have a chance to do bearings...Or just yank the motor and tranny and do everything at once..

F1...

My first piece of advise is to get a factory repair manual for your car.This will not only tell you what to do but how much effort in time and special tools you will need,and help you to understand why it cost so much. Number two is to consider how long that water has been in the crankcase if its been more than a week or so consider a complete rebuild, there has been a lot of horror stories of headgasket replacement only to hane the bottom end let go shortly after. Number three consider the mileage on your car it may be ready for a rebuild anyway.Finally number four plan on replacing a lot of unrelated parts, water pump,motor mounts.plugs,wires,hoses,belts and etc.Plan on sending the heads to a machine shop to have them checked for cracks,replace valve stem seals,valve grinding and surfacing.Finally take your time clean ,detail ,and inspect all your work it take alot less time to do it right the first time than it takes to redo it a second time. Good Luck

dude if you wanted to do this last spring i would have came up and showed you how, but now I moved and live in Dayton. I wrote a how-to years ago, it's on here somewhere.

So I too just finished up replaceing the headgaskets, and after doing some reading this morning it sounds like just replacing the headgaskets is a waste of time if you don't pull the motor and replace all the bearings. If this is true my wife is going to kill me, I had to take off a week and spent nearly 1,000 bucks when all said and done. I don't remember there being any coolant in my oil but I've been wrong before. I don't think I can afford anything else, especially pulling the motor and spending another 1,000. I've honestly been working on this car every weekend since I got it.

Notta waste...

My guess is as long as the car wasnt driven long with the coolant issue and if the owner was up on oil changes and took good care of their motor you should be good....

I have had rod knocks in other motors...As soon as you see it flucuate with the oil pressure gauge or here it its time to put new bearings in....

Id just watch the rpms for a bit and get another oil change and see what oil most are using...My guess is if coolant issues kill these bearings...5/30 oil probably isnt the best choice....Probably a little higher....

J

Well I guess time will tell, I run 20w50 in mine now but I can't say whats been in it up until now. I tend to lean more towards the heaviest oil I can get here in FL during summer months since my daily commute has me sitting on black top for 20 minutes at a time. The whole car though seems like its been babied, so maybe I'll be okay, if not that 16 mile commute is gonna be a b!@#$ on a bicycle.

Some coolant sitting in the oil is not going to destroy your engine. Running it like that for a long time might. You will probably want to do a few oil changes on short intervals.

I would say, don't take the car apart farther than you need to, unless you know other stuff you want or need to do also. Like motor mounts, clutch, etc. Just don't get in over your head or you will get frustrated.

Whats the cost of rebuilt motor? Any place that sells them still?

Lots of places sell them. Most of the big rebuild houses do. They generally cost about $2000. What you need to make sure is that they use the correct, SC-specific parts. That means pistons, rods and crank especially, but other stuff makes some difference too. Cam is different. Timing cover is different (might be possible to make the N/A one work with some machining). Heads are different (fewer coolant passages and thicker deck), so you can't use regular 3.8 heads from the same year, but the later 3.8 heads (96-99?) are about the same as the SC ones.