Steam out the stbd exhaust...

[tortuga]

SH%T Steam, antifreeze smell, yep blown headgasket...Damn

Got on it real hard through 2-3, let off made a few turns came to a stop and she didn't quite sound right, and then the steam and smell.

Nursed it home, never overheated, was runnning a tad rough but not horrible.

I've torn it down to the point where i am ready to pull the heads. Really pretty easy to work on: The engine is a Coast HP stroked 351 (427) with AFR heads, roller cam/rockers.

Questions:
What head gaskets?
SOurce for reassembly torques?
How does one put the rockers back together?
Trustworthy place to take the head in east SF bay area?

Thanks

[Sideways]

Was the steam coming out on one side of the exhaust?
If so your probably only looking at intake manifold gaskets.

[LMH]

Probably best to contact Coast High and ask them what head gaskets they used. That way it will match the drivers side and you get the correct intake gaskets as well.. Ask them about torque specs for the head too.
Rockers should be screwed down as per standard installation. Most rocker manufacturers have instructions online, plus there are a number of videos on YouTube of the process.
Good luck!
Larry

[tortuga]

Originally Posted by Sideways

Was the steam coming out on one side of the exhaust?
If so your probably only looking at intake manifold gaskets.

I am just to the point where i have not pulled the heads...Can you explain this phenomenon?

i have disconnected headers both sides and removed everything pre head removal but would LOVE not having to pull the heads!!

I Love these boards!

Thanks Larry!

[tortuga]

Originally Posted by Sideways

Was the steam coming out on one side of the exhaust?
If so your probably only looking at intake manifold gaskets.

I am just to the point where i have not pulled the heads...Can you explain this phenomenon?

i have disconnected headers both sides and removed everything pre head removal but would LOVE not having to pull the heads!!

I Love these boards!

Thanks Larry!

[tortuga]

The after most header inlet is wet whereas the other 7 are dry and sooty; I see there is a coolant inlet on the aft most end of the head, so one could expect that if there is some leakage between the after inlet and coolant it would look like a head gasket but still run fairly well?

On inspecting the manifold and heads, the aft passages are actually blocked by the edelbrock manifold?

I guess i should do a compression check to ensure that the HG's are good?

[tortuga]

Opps wrong guy, thanks sideways!! You too Larrry LOL

[LMH]

It sounds like a blown head gasket to me. Have you pulled a couple spark plugs to see what they look like? That may tell something too.
Larry

[Sideways]

Its very common for the intake gaskets to disintegrate due to ethanol fuel we have today.
If the engine was all together you could do a leak down test but you said its apart.
Get yourself some edelbrock intake gaskets and use a sealer called the "right stuff".
I'm 90% sure that this will fix the problem.

[JBCOBRA]

+1 Sideways.
It seems to be a pretty common problem. I have changed mine too. So Tortuga I hope you get lucky!! What does the oil look like???
I am using a Victor Jr intake. Motor sucked in the gasket from the top side of the engine on deceleration from high rpms. So when I replaced the gaskets I put a bead of the Right Stuff on the top side of the gaskets after I torqued the intake.
Knock on wood, no recurring problem

[scootter]

My five cents worth. If it is the head gasket, I would do both while it's tore down. I had a buddy of mine do one side to go back and do the other side a few months or so down the road. It only blew the steam out one side at a time, and it was a lot!!

[tortuga]

Originally Posted by JBCOBRA

+1 Sideways.
It seems to be a pretty common problem. I have changed mine too. So Tortuga I hope you get lucky!! What does the oil look like???
I am using a Victor Jr intake. Motor sucked in the gasket from the top side of the engine on deceleration from high rpms. So when I replaced the gaskets I put a bead of the Right Stuff on the top side of the gaskets after I torqued the intake.
Knock on wood, no recurring problem

Oil looked fine, water looked fine, however on cranking over with the intake removed it puffed out the water jacket aft of No. 8: figured headgasket...Now after buttoning the whole mess up i think i am seeing coolant; Either i F'd up the headgasket install in exactly the same place as the problem or i have a cracked head...

Feels like i bought a problem at this point; 12 year old car with 5k miles...

[tortuga]

RUNNING!! Wahoo! I am pretty proud of myself, down to the pistons and back successfully! Little fire out the carb, but what the hell its American thats what we do!

Needs some tuing probably but it runs drives and sounds right!

I about shat my pants when she first fired and smoked out the right exhaust, but it was just purging i guess, went away...

[LMH]

👍
Larry

[JBCOBRA]

Excellent!

[JBCOBRA]

When I changed my intake gaskets I took four bolts the same size as the intake gasket bolts but longer and cut the heads off and cut screwdriver slots in them so when I put the gaskets on I had these 4 bolts in there acting as guides for the gaskets and intake being dropped on the engine, so when I when I put the manifold on the bolts kept the gaskets in the correct place and then once I got a few of the regular intake both in I simply unscrewed these 4 bolts and replaced them with intake bolts

[Chuckr]

Wow this takes me back.

When my dad changed intake gaskets back in the day (50s & 60s) he had dowels he used for the same purpose.

Good stuff JBCOBRA, thanks for the walk down memory lane

Chuck

[tortuga]

Originally Posted by JBCOBRA

When I changed my intake gaskets I took four bolts the same size as the intake gasket bolts but longer and cut the heads off and cut screwdriver slots in them so when I put the gaskets on I had these 4 bolts in there acting as guides for the gaskets and intake being dropped on the engine, so when I when I put the manifold on the bolts kept the gaskets in the correct place and then once I got a few of the regular intake both in I simply unscrewed these 4 bolts and replaced them with intake bolts

The really neat thing that i found is that the head gaskets have little tabs that mesh in with the intake manifold gaskets holding them in place! This is the kind of thing that won the war...

Also the SPF header gaskets have hooks on either end: You start the bolts on the far ends, then simply drop the gasket over the two bolts and thread the rest in...Simple but totally brilliant!

Really kind of a fun engine to wrench on.

Had to pull the valve covers off to put a bit more pre-tension on the rockers, but ALL good now.

I've got a local hotrod mechanic that maintains millions of $ of classics who is going to help put the fine tune on her tonight, Life is GOOD.

[tortuga]

Kind of obvious which cylinder got steam cleaned eh?

All back together, and Guido at Alameda's world famous Lee Auto Parts watching dad buy gaskets...