mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

apparently beating the hell out of my car to no end has finally hurt the motor.

finally popped the headgaskets, dynoed a whopping 290rwhp on my supercharged ls1 powered 240sx tonight while blowing a very light white smoke out the back. the car overheats within 30 seconds of full throttle, but can go back to 230 range if you let it sit and idle.

now ive never blown headgaskets on a ls1 before, and i have about a week to get my car prepped for the PRI show in orlando in two weeks, where me and some other formula drift competitors will be allowed to do what we do best, be a jackass and burn off expensive ultra high performance tires left and right at orlando speed world in a PRI / Formula Drift exhibition.

Ill be pulling the heads off probably this weekend, and sending them off to get resurfaced.

heres my question.

motor still starts/runs/takes a beating but overheats etc etc. i know its a completely unguessable item, but using statistics of those of you whove blown headgaskets in relation to how many of you have warped blocks im gonna make a decision.

the car is getting scrapped after pri and a new one is getting built, so i dont wanna hurt the motor any further, but the question im trying to get to is.

how many of you have blown headgaskets before?

i will be having hte heads resurfaced, but just for a number i can look at, how many of you

a) changed the headgaskets and went about your business

b) changed the headgaskets, resurfaced the head while your at it and back to your business (my plan)

c) did b, but your block was warped.

just seeing peoples experiences. if theres enough C's i might just skip pri as i cant redo a motor in a week.

allngn_c5

iTrader: (3)

First time for me too. I haven't pulled her apart yet. I'll have to get back to ya. Good luck. Let me know how it goes so I know what to expect. Thanks bro.

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

anyone?

im just really paranoid about the motor, even though im yanking it out in a couple weeks for a complete overhaul for next season, but i dont want to fubar it and wondering what my chances are.

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

boop.

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

guess im worrying about somethign i shouldnt be?

koolrayz

iTrader: (26)

you may have eroded some of the head or deck away. get the heads off and check that out. its no big deal if its the heads. just get it welded and resurfaced but the deck on the block is another story

DAVESS02

iTrader: (30)

I blew headgaskets because I didnt properly re-torque my felpro 1041's. Put new copper gaskets on without surfacing the heads....LOL bad move! Third times a charm! I wouldnt replace head gaskets without at least having the machine shop check for straightness. BTW, after all this, the deck isnt warped. Checked with a straight edge after using wet or dry 320 on a sanding block with wd 40 to final clean the surface. FWIW, third gasket set was Titan ICE's with the integral o-rings.$189/pair sprayed with copper sealant, torqued, re-torqued next day before heat cycling, and then re-torqued again after heat cycling. Noticed the nuts gained about an 1/8th of a turn during each re-torque. Like daddy always said, "son, ya gotsta pay for your lessons"

byler900f

iTrader: (1)

i have never blown a head gasket on my ls, but it does happen. Since you are pulling them off, take them to a machine shop and have them checked out. It seems like to me, if you ran the motor hot, you would warp the heads before the block.

Hersker Hans

I did a headchange on a BMW 3.5 inline 6 engine last year, I checked the head for straightness, seemed to be ok, just torqued it down as the manual tells me to do. But i got a hot tip to retorque the head after a few hours of driving. I did, and the torque was way of, retorqued it and it has worked perfect since. I think it seem like a good idea to check torque/retorque the head.

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

wow, thats exactly the info i was looking for.

thanks!!

gonna try to order parts today. less ghetto ls13 coming to pri.

if your at pri come out ot orlando speed world and check out how fun it is to obliterate tires into clouds of white smoke in 4th gear around an oval

Cop Car

iTrader: (14)

for you ARP head studs would be a good investment.

for head gaskets, buy GM MLS gaskets.

you should really look into getting 317 heads right now, they are cheap (around $200) and they would drop your compression ratio. they also flow like the the 243s (much better than 241s) i think you would see a noticable hp diffrence. i would go ahead and have the decks of whatever heads you are going to put on checked by a machine shop.

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

im gonna have the heads checked and resurfaced ifneeded i was just worried about the block.

the motor is giong back together for pri then the life of this car is done done done.


07 build coming soon.

The Alchemist

iTrader: (19)

Only retorque the head bolts if they are head studs. The factory bolts are torque to yeild, so there is no way to get a retorque figure a second time.

I'd guess since you are forced induction, it's just a blown headgasket and the heads and block are fine as long as you didn't overheat really bad for a long period of time. How much psi are you running? You may have just lifted a head just enough to pop a gasket.

Like mentioned above, I'd swap the gaskets, spray some copper sealant on them, throw in some ARP head studs, torque them twice, and call it a day.

mikespeed95

iTrader: (1)

its only on 4-5psi.

i cant get tires big enough to put the power down so ive left it alone.