Need Direction - Replacing Head Gasket

[Spade]

For starters my car overheated due to the fan stop working. I'm unsure how hot the car actually got but coolant was blowing out the coolant tank pretty bad.

My question is and I know this has been asked several times before, but I'm not looking to mod the car any further. I'm just looking for some direction for when the car is apart on what to look for. Of course the heads will be checked before going back on the car. If the head(s) are bad what route should I take? If the heads are ok should I replace anything? I'm not looking to do cams because I do not plan on changing the blower and although the sound would be AWESOME I can not justify the added cost.

If it's just head gasket what can I expect to pay for this job? Last I saw ranged anywhere from $1200 to $2000 and I'm assuming the big difference in cost is due to machine work and grade of hardware.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Spade

 

[04cobraken]

Have a look at the exhaust valve seats while the heads are off. My head just dropped a seat and it is a common issue with theses heads.

 

[hotcobra03]

What makes you think head gasket?

Fan stopping is very common.

Fluid will go all over when you over heat. .

Engine has a limp mode and will shut itself down before engine damage..

To refill coolant you have to follow burp and fill. From cross over plug..

If not car will continue to blow out cap..

 

[MalcolmV8]

Try to find a shop that's worked on mod motor heads and is familiar with them. A common issue is the exhaust valve seats in the heads as mentioned above. On my head a couple of them just crumbled when the machine shop attempted to turn them and a few others cracked when they banged on them. Only added $100 to the bill to get all new exhaust seats put in.

While not nearly as common its worth making sure the valve guides are not worn which can develop a ticking sound.

BTW did you replace the fan, put in fresh coolant and burp the system and check if the car was OK? or did you just tear it down?

 

[cj428mach]

As others have said are you sure the motor is hurt?

If you are pulling the motor i would make sure you take the heads to a modmotor specialist. These heads have seat/guide issues as it is and getting it hot as a firecracker is doing them any favors. I would make sure you get the seats checked by a reputable shop that knows what they're doing. I personally used L&M out of Pennsylvania.

You might want to look at head studs while you're there, they don't cost a whole lot more than head bolts plus they're reusable.

 

[MG0h3]

I think hes looking at having a shop do it based on the price.

 

[Spade]

What makes you think head gasket?

Fan stopping is very common.

Fluid will go all over when you over heat. .

Engine has a limp mode and will shut itself down before engine damage..

To refill coolant you have to follow burp and fill. From cross over plug..

If not car will continue to blow out cap..

When the fan was replaced and the coolant was filled it started puffing white smoke out the exhaust and building a lot of pressure in the coolant tank. From what I understand pressure like that could be caused by a bad head or gasket.

As others have said are you sure the motor is hurt?

If you are pulling the motor i would make sure you take the heads to a modmotor specialist. These heads have seat/guide issues as it is and getting it hot as a firecracker is doing them any favors. I would make sure you get the seats checked by a reputable shop that knows what they're doing. I personally used L&M out of Pennsylvania.

You might want to look at head studs while you're there, they don't cost a whole lot more than head bolts plus they're reusable.

What did L&M charge?

I think hes looking at having a shop do it based on the price.

I was going to have a friend of a friend do the work. He races a newer GT and a Shelby and works on them both himself to the tune of building his own motors.

Try to find a shop that's worked on mod motor heads and is familiar with them. A common issue is the exhaust valve seats in the heads as mentioned above. On my head a couple of them just crumbled when the machine shop attempted to turn them and a few others cracked when they banged on them. Only added $100 to the bill to get all new exhaust seats put in.

While not nearly as common its worth making sure the valve guides are not worn which can develop a ticking sound.

BTW did you replace the fan, put in fresh coolant and burp the system and check if the car was OK? or did you just tear it down?

The car is still intact. I'll most likely wait until spring because the wife might have something to say if I spend $1200 (if I'm lucky) with X-mas being so close.

 

[cj428mach]

When the fan was replaced and the coolant was filled it started puffing white smoke out the exhaust and building a lot of pressure in the coolant tank. From what I understand pressure like that could be caused by a bad head or gasket.



What did L&M charge?



I was going to have a friend of a friend do the work. He races a newer GT and a Shelby and works on them both himself to the tune of building his own motors.



The car is still intact. I'll most likely wait until spring because the wife might have something to say if I spend $1200 (if I'm lucky) with X-mas being so close.

I think TRBO_VNM told me he charges $750 to R&R the motor so then you'd have the cost of tearing the motor down and going through it, plus parts/machine work. The local ford dealer quoted me 2k to pull the motor and install the revised head. People usually say double your estimate just incase so I'd say plan on having 3k-4k available incase you run into issues.


As for L&M I would call and ask them the price as I can't give you an exact number. I had 2 pass side heads shipped to them and they rebuilt one and sent the other one back the bill was over $550 to get both the heads shipped back, that might have been express shipping too so that really can effect the cost to. I was wanting the heads back before labor day weekend so I could do the install. They were done on the Tuesday before labor day and I told them to figure out whatever shipping I needed to have them in my hands that Friday.

As far as shops go I must say they were great to work with. They originally told me it would be 7-10 business days after they received them before they'd be able to get started on them. I got a call the day they received the heads saying they were going to get started on them. The shop had awesome communication and when they told me they were going to call me right back, they did. When I'd call the shop everyone was very knowledgeable and friendly. I was extremely pleased with them, as the work was nice, and everyone was so friendly and professional.

 

[03slaminator]

How long have you owned this car? Just curious because I think the reason I blew my gasket was from the previous owner either re-used the factory head bolts or re-used the gaskets. He just rebuilt the motor before he sold it to me. I had the car for about three weeks and the head gasket went! Lol then 1 week after that I lost my job. Let me tell you, no job with a 400 dollar car payment and trying to fix it at the same time was a pain. But I wasn't gonna give up the car so I struggled to keep it. Haha! I paid her off a year and half ago. Thank god. Lol

I blew a head gasket around Cyl. 7. White smoke out of exhaust and lots of pressure from resivior cap.

I bought all arp hardware, head studs, main studs, side bolts, rod bolts, cam bolts, and a few others. I don't remember the exact cost but it was 1k give or take a few dollars.

Upper gasket kit was around 350 bucks. This kit I bought also came with new valve guides.

Machine work on heads cost 450 dollars. That includes disassemble heads, re-surfacing the heads, 3 angle valve job, removed 1 broken exhaust stud, and one seat was spinning, and re-assembled the heads. Every shop is different on cost , I'm just giving you an idea on what I spent.

Also add in the little things, oil change , antifreeze for both systems , little stuff like that adds up. Lol

I bought a lot of other things but it was stuff that was not needed. Just stuff I wanted to add while engine was out. Also my bottom end looked great, but I went ahead and tore into it to double check to be on the safe side. I mainly tore into it to get it nice and cleaned up. I'll probably get bashed for saying this. But I re-used my main bearings and rod bearings. They looked brand new like they just got shipped to my door. So if you decide to tear into the bottom end then keep in mind that you will have to replace main and rod bearings unless your comfortable re-using yours if they look good.

My plan was to do a cheap build to get my car back on the road as quick as I could. Well around 4k-5k later and 2 years down the road and my car a completly different color I finally got to drive it again! Grin from ear to ear just like the day I bought it. Good luck on your car, I hope for your sake it's not a head gasket. But to me it sounds a lot like what my car did. Good luck.