Guys I have sort of asked about this before but I am asking again to get some more advice. Guys about a year ago radiator busted car overheated when I was driving it and it just shut down while I was driving it. We filled radiator back up with water, it fired right up and I drove it about 5 miles home and parked it. We checked it out and white smoke was coming out of the exhaust and water was in the oil. It has been sitting every since because I have not had the money to fix it.

Now I a little money to fix it. My mechanic says just replace the head gaskets, have the heads machined, and valves and the car will be up and running. What do you guys think? If that is all it is blown head gaskets how reliable will the car be once it is fixed? Car ran great before all this. Transmission was fine, motor never used oil, etc. Car does have 150,000 miles on it, and I do not have the money to do a complete rebuild, unless in a miracle I found a shop who would take payments instead of all the money at once.

My mechanic said he would replace the head gaskets for 200 dollars. He is a relative that is why he is doing it so cheap. Whats your thoughts guys. 97 Z28 6 speed.

 

for 200 bucks i would do it. See if the heads need anything done to them. While they're off you might as well check them out and throw valve seals in. As for the 150k bottom end, is it clean inside? change your oil? How long have you cared for it? That is a good determining factor of how much life is left.

EDIT: just noticed your name, your a big fan of his movies eh?

 

I always changed the oil, and like I said it never used oil where I had to put it in all the time. I am the original owner of the car. Yeah, my mechanic said since the heads would be off he would go ahead and change out the valves, seals, etc. I just need to be sure it will be a reliable car when all is done.

P.S., I try and pattern my life after Mr. Everhard

 

I'm just a newbie, but when we found out water was in the oil of my brother's z28, it created... basically a milkshake. We had to rebuild the entire motor. Of course, it all started with a blown head gasket.

 

Exactly why does he want to change the valves?

If you drove it till it shut down I would worry about the heads being soft now and the shortblock being damaged.

Severe overheating can soften the aluminum and they can be permanently hard to keep sealed.

Just a popped head gasket can be a relatively cheap and easy fix if the vehicle is shut down and dealt with competently, sounds like it wasn't shut down and I have questions about the competence that would go into repairing it.

 

He just said since the heads were off just go ahead and refurbish the valves, guides and seats. The car completely shut down when it overheated, and I called a tow truck but when it got there we checked and the radiator was completely empty. We filled it back up and the car cranked up perfectly, and I drove it about 3-5 miles back to my house with no problem. Once I turned it off that was it. We found water in the oil.

 

Stock valves are good cheap aftermarket stuff would probably be a step backwards and blindly bigger is stupid.

 

If you found water in the oil, then chances are the bearings are wiped out. that is a common problem with the aluminum bearings used in the LT1's they dont like coolant at all.

 

I can speak from actual personal experience.

If there are no "surprises" once the heads are off, then replacing the gaskets, surfacing the heads, and checking the valves is a good idea - these three things are exactly what was done to my engine when my 355 started overheating.

(FYI - Ultimately, there were two blown gaskets and a crack in the stock radiator.)

I actually did all the wrenching myself (as I am an Engineer) and had the heads surfaced and the valves checked. After I put it all back together and set my lifters with a one revolution pre-load (using Shoebox's procedure), I had zero problems for 50,000 miles.

(It was only after I decided to go from 11 psi to 13 psi - that was when I began to have problems!)

Yes, do it.

Good luck!

 

My concern is specifically that he ran it till it shut down, that is different than mild to moderate overheating.