First off i'm going to try my best and stay organized as i type this. I had a horable day at the track a couple weeks back due to blowing a head gasket and/or lifting a head. no white smoke out the tailpipe so we were thinking at that point that the overflow cap juat failed. Coolant spewed past the overflow cap past the hood vent and onto the windshield going down the track. Let the car cool off and ran to the local parts store for a replacement overflow cap. Once the car was cooled off i figured "here we go. Time to drive home" The car didn't make it a block out of the drag strip before overheating bad. At that point i said "OK air in the system" Tired taking off the coolant crossover plug but as we all know it's a PITA. Broke my only 1/4 drive and did not have vice grips. At this point my girlfriend and i called AAA for a tow. When he arrived he looked at the car and told me that AAA would not cover/tow a modified car (lowered and different tires and wheels) and told me that he could tow it but without the AAA coverage and we would have to pay out of pocket. Here is a pic for your viewing pleasure hahaha.
So the next day we call AAA and dispute the charge and we were sent a Reimbursement Form which we filled out and a couple day later got our money back. THANK GOD!!
Anyways back to the car. The first thing i did was pressurize the cooling system to 16psi and look around to see where the coolant was coming from. I noticed it was leaking from the D'agostino head cooling mod. The hose clamps were loose and it was dripping a little bit but i know that was not the main source of the leak. I had to use a propane torch to heat up the coolant crossover plug to remove it with vice grips. once that was off i burped the cooling system properly and repressured the cooling system and rechecked for leaks. I noticed a BIG leak coming from the bottom on the block where the trans bell housing bolts to the block. no trail that i can just at the bottom. Anyways at that point i gave up looking for the day and did a compression test. The first compression test i did was a full crank test until the compression gauge would not move any further and these were my results.
Sent this pic to a good buddy of mine and he told me to redo the test and pay close attension to the first puff and to do a consistant test between cylinders. so here are the results of the 1 puff and 4 puff test.
I, then, sent him these results and it appears my lower end is ok
A couple days later i have another buddy (Snakerider) on here come over to try and pin point the coolant leak. we pressure tested the cooling system yet again and the only leak we find is coming from the head cooling mod. I, again, burp the cooling system and kept the plug open with a funnel as i start the car. Immediately we see clouds of white smoke filling the garage and we also notice black carbon deposits in the funnel as the coolant level at the crossover bubbles and gets higher and lower. Pulled the oil cap with the car running and noticed a whiteish milky oil residue on the bottom side of the cap. So its defiately a blown head gasket and or also the head lifted. until this point i had no white smoke and no oil mixing in the coolant or or coolant in oil. I guess after pressurizing the system over and over weakened the headgasket more and more until symptoms started showing themselves
Now its time to gather up some parts and this is where i need help. We will be doing the work at a buddies shop and he told me i need to do head studs. The heads need to go to the machine shop to be milled (not sure if that the right term) but the bottom of the heads have to be cut to ensure flatness. The motor is an 03 so i have the 4 thread heads so should i just keep the existing heads or go with the revised heads with 8 threads and revised coolant passages. I was looking around at prices on ported heads and it's not in my budget. How often to spark plugs really shoot out of the heads? Is it really work $2,600 for the ford revised heads? Another question for you guys... Since the heads are coming off it would be a good time to do cams and i'm set on comp cams but not sure which stage to go with 2 or 3. Keep in mind the bottom end is stock and i did do a search that yielded a possible PTV clearance issue with the stage 3s. is this true? Right now the car is a bolt on and ported eaton car. I could do it real cheap and just have the heads cut and reinstall with all stock stuff but we all know that no one wants to do that. Sorry for the long read and i hope you guys can help guide me in the correct direction.
Thanks
J.R.
So the next day we call AAA and dispute the charge and we were sent a Reimbursement Form which we filled out and a couple day later got our money back. THANK GOD!!
Anyways back to the car. The first thing i did was pressurize the cooling system to 16psi and look around to see where the coolant was coming from. I noticed it was leaking from the D'agostino head cooling mod. The hose clamps were loose and it was dripping a little bit but i know that was not the main source of the leak. I had to use a propane torch to heat up the coolant crossover plug to remove it with vice grips. once that was off i burped the cooling system properly and repressured the cooling system and rechecked for leaks. I noticed a BIG leak coming from the bottom on the block where the trans bell housing bolts to the block. no trail that i can just at the bottom. Anyways at that point i gave up looking for the day and did a compression test. The first compression test i did was a full crank test until the compression gauge would not move any further and these were my results.
Sent this pic to a good buddy of mine and he told me to redo the test and pay close attension to the first puff and to do a consistant test between cylinders. so here are the results of the 1 puff and 4 puff test.
I, then, sent him these results and it appears my lower end is ok
A couple days later i have another buddy (Snakerider) on here come over to try and pin point the coolant leak. we pressure tested the cooling system yet again and the only leak we find is coming from the head cooling mod. I, again, burp the cooling system and kept the plug open with a funnel as i start the car. Immediately we see clouds of white smoke filling the garage and we also notice black carbon deposits in the funnel as the coolant level at the crossover bubbles and gets higher and lower. Pulled the oil cap with the car running and noticed a whiteish milky oil residue on the bottom side of the cap. So its defiately a blown head gasket and or also the head lifted. until this point i had no white smoke and no oil mixing in the coolant or or coolant in oil. I guess after pressurizing the system over and over weakened the headgasket more and more until symptoms started showing themselves
Now its time to gather up some parts and this is where i need help. We will be doing the work at a buddies shop and he told me i need to do head studs. The heads need to go to the machine shop to be milled (not sure if that the right term) but the bottom of the heads have to be cut to ensure flatness. The motor is an 03 so i have the 4 thread heads so should i just keep the existing heads or go with the revised heads with 8 threads and revised coolant passages. I was looking around at prices on ported heads and it's not in my budget. How often to spark plugs really shoot out of the heads? Is it really work $2,600 for the ford revised heads? Another question for you guys... Since the heads are coming off it would be a good time to do cams and i'm set on comp cams but not sure which stage to go with 2 or 3. Keep in mind the bottom end is stock and i did do a search that yielded a possible PTV clearance issue with the stage 3s. is this true? Right now the car is a bolt on and ported eaton car. I could do it real cheap and just have the heads cut and reinstall with all stock stuff but we all know that no one wants to do that. Sorry for the long read and i hope you guys can help guide me in the correct direction.
Thanks
J.R.
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