Dawg’s head gasket chronicles

OK.....It's head gasket time.  Here we go.



This is our baby with her top off.....:)




While I'm at it, may as well spiffy things up a bit.  I'm trying to stick with our Gold on Black theme.  Here's the before.




And the after.  I like it.



I'm going to do the Upper Plenum in the same color scheme after I give it and the Throttle Body the big bore treatment.

Should look grand....eh?

The Dawg

Damien, since you have the heads off...

Have a look Here for some free horsepower and better fuel economy.

Seriously, it's worth at least investigating.

 

Patrick wrote: Damien, since you have the heads off... Have a look Here for some free horsepower and better fuel economy. Seriously, it's worth at least investigating.

 

Pat that is one hell of an interesting article.  I am definitely going to look into that mod.  If it really works, I would be tempted to pull all my Fiero V6 heads even my Caddy heads, do that mod and then save the heads to increase compression and really take advantage of it.

Nope.  I just don't have the time to get fancy.  This is a daily driver that needs to get back on the road.

Having said that.  I will be modifying the upper plenum quite a bit including some gasket matching between plenums.  Also going to big bore the TB while it's out.  That should broaden the power curve.

I was also going to put a variable fuel regulator and gauge but getting low on cash.  I've spent a lot of money on my truck in the last month or so.

If I hustle, I could get it going in a day.  But I think I'm going to take my time and double check everything as I go.  Need to paint too of course.

The Dawg

Romeo wrote: Hmm... I don't know about that, will have to investigate further. On the tried and true front, are you going to port and polish (Or swirl-cut) the heads while they're off?

I'd try it on the irons, 'cause if they ever go to hell after, I could switch over to the Brodix heads.

Let me know how it goes. I understand the logic in that, but I'm extremely skeptical. Manufacturers dedicate HUGE money into develloping heads (Superceded only by the block and PCM in terms of cost-to-devellop), even going to far as to C'n'C cut aluminum these days. If something so simple made that large a difference, I'd be willing to bet they'd be doing it already.

Ok....who wrote these Fiero manuals anyway?

I just looked up the torque specs for the head bolts and they say 65-90 FT-LBS.  Huh?

Ok.....I choose 90.....what do I win?


And does anyone have a valve compressor I can borrow?  I looked all over and can't find mine.  It's one of those tools that you need every blue moon but are screwed if you don't have one.

Thanks,

The Dawg

It means torque them in sequence to 65ft-ibs first, then go through and re-torque them all to 90ft-ibs.

Realistically, 90ft-ibs off the get go should be fine.

I usually start at 40lbs, or even just hand spin them in / use a drill on tow torque setting.  Then go to 40lbs, 60lb, 90lbs, then a final 95 or 100lbs. to finish up.  I have not had a head gasket fail yet.  Also not that your engine is not a Fiero motor, and you should double check the specs with a book for your exact engine, it may have a higher torque spec, also make sure to use loads of head bolt sealant, The white goopy stuff. 

More progress.  The intake is on.




Disabling the cold start injector is a mod that many do to their engines while they're in there.  This is what it looks like.  Notice I cut the metal fuel line and crimped it over.  At the other end is the fuel rail opening.  You have to plug that up too.




Here is a sh*tty picture of the tool I made to clean out the head bolt threads.  The threads on this motor are M11X1.5.  Rare thread, not easy to find this tap.  So rather than do that I made a clean out tool from an old head bolt.  I ground a couple flutes along the threads so capture any gunk as I ran the tool in and out of the threaded holes.

Worked perfectly and cost nothing....except a new set of head bolts which I had decided to buy anyway.




Now it's time to install the push rods and adjust the rockers.





Hopefully I'll be modifying the upper plenum tonight if all goes well.

The Dawg