I put my car in for the lower lat arm recall today and the dealer said that the head gasket was bad. I dont trust them at all, so I'm gunna take a look at it when I get it back tonight. If it is bad, what mods do you guys suggest I do while the head is off. Keep in mind that I am getting a Hahn stage 1 kit soon and the stage 2 upgrade is in somewhere in the future. Also, what make gasket do you recommend. I dont want stock because of future problems w/ turbo. Thanks

If you have a lot of miles on the motor, you should at least get a valve job done. When I rebuilt my motor, I had the head milled and ported/polished, got a valve job, put in crane valve springs, and am now switching to arp head studs instead of bolts. At the bare minimum, I would have the head resurfaced.

I definitely agree with Matt. You can do all the fancy porting, milling, and the acquisition of oversized valves if you want, but at the VERY least, get a valve job done, and resurface the head for flatness. That shouldn't cost more than 150-175 from a reasonable machine shop. Just bring your own appropriate valve seals to them to save on parts costs.

Use the new Stock MLS headgasket, its the best one out there (or damn near it). 4 layer steel will be very hard to blow even with a turbo ;)
Also get the complete upper gasket set which includes all the needed gaskets when you tear down the to the head. This includes the cam oil seals, so go with the whole kit. The complete gasket kit (includes the headgasket) is around 90-100 bucks at the dealer.

I took replacing the HG as time to upgrade the head and put in the PT lifters, Crane springs w/titanium retainers, new valve stem seals, got everything polished up and some mild porting done and got all the valves taken care of too, figured while I was in there it was the thing to do.

Yeah definately check the head surface for warpage. I would upgrade the valvetrain while you arein there: lifters and rockers.

1997 Eclipse RS (in winter slumber for head gasket repair and other projects)

He who knows men is clever; He who knows himself has insight.
He who conquers men has force; He who conquers himself is truly strong.
-Lao Tzu

Injen CAI, AFX 55mm TB, P&P Intake Manifold, Crower Stage 2 Cams, Hooker Header, GS-T Muffler, AFX UDP, Apexi S-AFC

Thats what Im figuring too. Think Im gunna do some P&P, valves, crower rods (so I dont have to them when I get the stage 2 upgrade). Anything else recommended?

Well, if you have money to burn, now's the time for possibly some Crane camshafts or a nice turbo regrind and/or some adjustable cam gears. I've heard these mods take especially well to boost.

Don't forget:
If you are already taking the timing belt off, and you have even 40k miles, this would be a good time to change the Timing Belt, the Timing Belt tensioner pulley, and the water pump... that all will cost upwards of $150, but it is a pain to change the belt, even if it is 20k miles early.

well if your gonna upgrade to crower rods, might as well do pistons and bearings(im pretty sure u have to upgrade the pistons anyways for crower rods)

that means full lower gasket kit, timing belt stuff(tensioner belt, water pump) then u will want a bore 40$ give or take at machine shop,

mill the head full valve job, upper gasket kit, and what ever other upgrades u want to do, pt valve train etc...

what about porting and polishing the intake man1fold and getting ARP head studs? if you're gonna have the head off, you should do that at the very least.

definately stay with the stock head gasket. "MOPAR won't go far," says my roommate, but he's a crack head with a rusted out 84 montie carlo. "PUSHRODS! CAMSHAFT! ALL MOTAH!" in his hardcore bostonian accent. anyways, the mopar head gasket that comes OEM with our cars is pretty good, and few turbo people have problems with it.

if your going to take the time to do the timing belt and all of its components then don't forget a melling oil pump from your friendly and accurate howelll automotive..lol

If he's so against Mopar, have him line up against an old Hemi Cuda or something of that genre.

1997 Eclipse RS (in winter slumber for head gasket repair and other projects)

He who knows men is clever; He who knows himself has insight.
He who conquers men has force; He who conquers himself is truly strong.
-Lao Tzu

Injen CAI, AFX 55mm TB, P&P Intake Manifold, Crower Stage 2 Cams, Hooker Header, GS-T Muffler, AFX UDP, Apexi S-AFC

"well if your gonna do this, you better get this" hahah...i hope you got money buddy :P

"well if your gonna do this, you better get this" hahah...i
hope you got money buddy :P

Tell me about it! This is gunna cost me $3500 by the time Im done at this rate. Timing belt sounds like a good idea tho too.