ARGH!! one step forward, two back lol

[Grantster]

Guess what!?! head gasket melt down now... lots of white smoke out the tail pipes. wouldn't be so bad if I was racing it, but nope. stop at a stop sign, drive off nicely, rough idle all of a sudden and storm clouds behind me.. lol... why can i laugh, i think i slowed down traffic 1/2 a block

and yes, quite sure its the gasket, have bubles in the coolant

Grant

[Paul93SC]

Grant, you should drain the coolant (what's left) immediately, and check your oil for coolant contamination. If the dipstick has a frothy milkshake look to the oil, it's contaminated.

Headgaskets can blow in various ways, and sometimes it pours coolant into the oil. If that's happened, the bottom end bearings are likely damaged. This happened to me the 1st time, and required a complete engine rebuild. (Yep, I've done HGs twice now!).

People have just replaced the HGs in these circumstances (and flushed the oil several times to get all the coolant out), but often they end up with spun bearings or broken parts shortly after.

Good luck.

Welcome to the "headgasket club". Come... join us in our misery

[Grantster]

Gee thanks.. lol... I think i caught it fast enough, no coolant in the oil or signs of it. ie, smokey oil or a layered look. had it parked within 1/2 an hour and cooling down. now i have to wait for the weekend to fix. this year it has to get me through winter, no beater to drive. but next year, almost a frame off restore. (nice when you have an autobody owner for a cousin) but all i have to do is get through this year.

summer is only 6 months away
summer is only 6 months away
summer is only 6 months away

[WinnipegSC]

im looking forward to joining the HG club LOL.. mine smokes white but its cause the car runs rich and has plugged cats btu i can see the HG comming shortly.. (already have 110K km on my bird )

[Grantster]

I wish i could get my hands on 1020 bucks. found a 3.8 sc engine complete for sale from a 90 t-bird. would like to start rebuilding that so i could put a fresh engine in when i restore the car. but oh well... there will be others (i hope) when the time is right. where can i find a decent supply of sc parts in winnipeg? seems like it isn't the easiest car to find parts for. any ideas besides ford dealerships would be helpful, ie; blower fluid and fel-pro HG's

Grant

[Paul93SC]

Umm, lets see now... off the top of my head you'll need:

- Upper engine gasket set (includes felpro headgaskets, valve stem seals and all the other gaskets you'll need).
- Head bolts (OEM are torque-to-yield 1-use only bolts). ARP studs are better and re-useable.
- Coolant & oil + filter.
- A place to take your heads to be checked and reconditioned (bring your valve seals from the upper engine gasket set with you).
- Some special tools 'n stuff (torque wrench, parts washer, power steering pulley puller/installer kit, silicone sealant etc,.).

That's all I can think of right now, but that should cover most of it. We did mine in one weekend, with the help of 2 other people, and it wasn't difficult but more time-consuming than we thought.

If you want to install new spark plugs, wires, or perhaps get your exhaust manifolds ported (highly recommended), now is the time to do it! Planning this all out beforehand will help the job go much smoother and faster.

Any more questions, just ask...