TransAmGT94

I thought i would waist more of my time and go back and put yet another set of performance felpro head gaskets on and it blew them after about 5-15 min of idle time. Thats right no driving at all no reving past 2-2500 rpm .....I am so pissed of right now i had fixed the idle issue i was having and fixed the charging issue i was having and gasket blew again... Well im going to say it is the gasket it is more likely that the dumb people cant check a block to see if it is cracked.... or cant clean a block properly and the head bolts arent getting enough clamping pressure. I have talked to the gasket engineers at felpro and they claim their is no reason for me to have to use the performance version of the gasket (which i am so over kill) i have talked to the people at arp and they claim to have a twin turm 6cyl with 900 rwhp on arp bolts not studs and i have talked to the people at trickflow and they also are saying the shop is at fault that both the gasket and the bolt are fine.... Well sorry for going on so long, but im just about ready to start killing off people right now....

1racerdude

Why are ya saying it "blew"? What is it doing? Is water leaking to the outside? Is it missing?
Ya just DON'T BLOW HEAD GASKETS AT IDLE period.

97WS6NY

Your deck must not be properly planed or the heads i would imagine. Look for warping with a perfect straight edge.

1racerdude

Have your heads been milled/ has your block been decked? Are the bolts bottoming out for some strange reason? Are the head locater pins in the block to long preventing the head from pulling down? Are the holes in the block/heads for the locater pins big enough to accept the locater pins? Have ya put a feeler gage between the head and block with no gasket to see if it goes down all the way?
That's a weird problem.
It probably don't have anything to do with the block/head cutting but more to the thickness that was cut.

97WS6NY

I agree with dude, either the block or heads is not planed properly, or it was decked too far to fasten the heads down all the way (??? I am not even sure if that is possible).

1racerdude

It's possible to have the alignment pins be too tall or the holes in the head or block not be deep enough to let the head pull down.

97WS6NY

That's what I was thinking, but haven't looked at my block in about 5 months lol, so it was hard to remember. Thanks

97WS6NY

Either way, the solution looks like a straight edge and a feeler guage. I have to say I would have checked that the first time it happened though

1racerdude

If the pins are too long or for some reason the bolts are bottoming out a straight edge and gages are of no use.

There is definitely something strange going on.

97WS6NY

Whe could just use some crush gauges with no gasket and tighten the head down and see what he ends up with there. You make a good point though, (the straight edge was to see if there was any semi-obvious warping). He might just try going back to a stock thickness gasket instead of the .039 1074

1racerdude

Yep,
My Post #4 covered that. I suggested putting the head on with no gasket between and check with feelers if it sat all the way down. It should. I have only seen this one other time on a FORD. The owner missed the back line up hole and torqued it down. The thing would run good (drag car) till ya hit the NO. He had replaced them several times. He brought it to me and I saw where the indent the pin had made. Got a new alignment dowl and cleaned up the hole in the head and it went a 10.00 the next weekend(fastest it had ever ran) 'cause they upped the hose to check my work.
A stock gasket is .049 compressed not much of a difference.

97WS6NY

Yeah i think i breezed over that post, my bad. and upon reading it, i agree also that it probably has more to do with how far is was decked than wether or not it is flat, i just figured that if I was doing it, and already had it apart i would check both while I was at it.

1racerdude

Like someone has already said may have ben you,after the first time every off the wall thing would have been checked. Don't think I would have done the 2-3 times,or it would have stayed apart 'till the problem was found.

Something strange going on here.

RE AND CHERYL

I'd still like to know what it's doing to make him think the head gasket is blown. There is so little cylinder pressure at idle, I doubt the gasket would blow even if the head or deck was warped.

How far would you have to deck the block or mill the head for the alignment dowls to bottom out. That would be a first for me.

TransAmGT94

i checked the length of the pins and made sure they seated after the first time and again after the second time the heads were brand new when the gasket went the first time and were reserfaced after the first time going into the second time.. the gaskets show water marks on them but i think it is a crack in the block that they failed to notice it runs fine when it starts but when it it warms up if when the problem starts.