well, looks like mine is toasted. it had a good run. 2 years of abuse with many trips to the dyno and strip. block and pistons look good.

ive decided to do a complete strip down. Im going to port out the head more, get everything powder coated and repaint the engine compartment.

so.. don't expect to hear anything new about my car for a few months. good old winter project.

peace

Sucks.

That sucks James

What headgasket were you using? How many miles were on it? I have had my turbo for over a year and half now. Just wondering if I'm going to have the same problem when my car finally makes it on the dyno this/next week..

I only know of the stocker, which seems to be the best, and the cooper aftermarket one Summit sells. I've never used it though.

kncok kills headgaskets, as does extreme cylinder pressures caused by knock. it's not an issue with the gasket itself.

Originally posted by SilverBullet20g
That sucks James What headgasket were you using? How many miles were on it? I have had my turbo for over a year and half now. Just wondering if I'm going to have the same problem when my car finally makes it on the dyno this/next week..

\

ive been using this headgasket for almost 2 years. id say there are 20K miles on it, but its been abused heavily.

james

I ran the old composite gasket for over 4 years, just blew it a few months ago. Ran ~24psi on pump gas all 4 of those years with the DFI. Like dino said, its knock that kills them quick

James, I say just replace the headgasket and get the head surfaced.

Just go with the regular MLS gasket.
Why have downtime? You can have the head off, surfaced and back on again in under a day! Now what are you waiting for! :)

Originally posted by MrSlick
James, I say just replace the headgasket and get the head surfaced. Just go with the regular MLS gasket. Why have downtime? You can have the head off, surfaced and back on again in under a day! Now what are you waiting for! :)

I can just replace the gasket and be good to go, I would like to drive it a bit more.. However, if I spend all this money to get it running again. Ill have to spend it again when I tear it down to powder coat everything.

Well, there are a couple months left of decent weather for track runs and dyno pulls.

I think you just convinced me to keep going for the rest of this season. At least till December or so..

James

Check to make sure the head isn't warped. If it is, change out your studs/bolts because one of them may be stretched. If this is the case, maybe upgrading it 1/2" head studs would be in order.

Damn straight... use new bolts/studs/nuts as needed...

But get that thing back on the road, and show me some AFR logs... ;)

Originally posted by ner947
Check to make sure the head isn't warped. If it is, change out your studs/bolts because one of them may be stretched. If this is the case, maybe upgrading it 1/2" head studs would be in order.

oh when i rip this thing apart i change everythign possible. all belts, water pump, all gaskets associated and of course any bolts i can get my hands on.

james

You didn't blow your headgasket. You don't even have a headgasket. I am going to provide 372 pieces of evidence to prove this because I have been stalking you. Liar.

Just kidding. :P I'm just glad that I don't see that kind of bullshit in all of your threads anymore.

Edit: Oh yeah, sucks about the headgasket. Just get it back together for now and go nuts over the winter. It's not winter yet...

Eh the way i look at it james, everytime you make a major change a weak link must go. this case the HG. Yes true it is due to abuse but hey, if we never had to fix it, it wouldnt be worth while!.

Enjoy

Terry
96 Eagle Talon ESI....Daily driver

97 Eclipse.........

Does anyone use Cometic Headgaskets or the SRT-4 headgasket? I have a spare MLS headgasket..

i just use a MLS from napa.

I used a cometic gasket once, when i first got my talon and it was a composite not a MLS. Very cheap gasket set. I used them on my harley once too......never use em again. Too cheaply made.

Terry

I used a cometic gasket once and will never use one again. The design of the cometic is very different than a dealer head gasket (The cometic actually has silver fabric-like rings in between the gasket layers that are compressed during install - I can almost guarantee that these are what failed and caused my low compression at the time). I have a rebuilt engine (8.6:1) running 10 psi daily back then and the gasket only lasted 1,000 miles. I went back to a dealer head gasket, compression back at 190, and have had not a single problem. Spend the money and get a dealer gasket that has the latest revisions.

--Kurt