sleeperz28

Not sure if everyone knows this but I have converted over to a distributor. Im running the 7Al2 box with a HVC 2 coil. Brand new plug wires, no burns, resistance all checked out.

Heres the story:
Before I took the car on the power tour everything ran mint. The car felt a lot stronger on the top end with this ignition setup. I left for the tour beat on it a bit here and there. I raced a car in IA and I never felt the car come on so hard before in second gear and I ended up boucing off the rev limiter. I stop in 3rd because I could no longer see the car in my rear view mirror anymore. After that race we headed back to the hotel. I decided to leave my mark on a bridge, so I left a nice 90mph burn out At this point I noticed a small miss but it was not that bad. I checked the oil etc and everything was clean. I finished the tour and started racing back in my home town. We go from a 70 roll, I hit it and the car starts spuddering. Those behind me say nothing but black smoke out the exhaust. I log another run after that and my a/f says 11.5 and everything looks normal. At this point I thought my plugs were F*cked from the power tour. I swap them out, the car didnt miss after that but it felt slow. Then on my way to work I try logging another run and the miss is back and the gasket pops and I have water in my oil

I cant seem to find out why this happend. The motor will be out either tonight or tomorrow. At this point I dont care that it happend but how

rskrause

It would help to know what the gasket looks like, but as you probably already know, the commonest causes for a properly installed head gasket to fail are preignition, detonation, or overheating.

"Proper installation" includes: head or block not clean, smooth or flat; wrong surface finish; using the wrong sequence or improper torque to tighten the head bolts/studs; reusing stretched, damaged or dirty bolts; using a sealer on a gasket that does not require a sealer; etc.

Rich Krause

JZ 97 SS 1500

The only other thing would be that you lifted the heads under excessive cylinder pressure. Thats the only other explanation for it.

Jose

JZ 97 SS 1500

BTW, also check the torque settings on the studs or bolts the way the sit in the car right now. See if they have loosend by either elongation or vibration. My GN let go a headgasket a while back...all the bolt bolts were way off the torque spec. Looks like either the heads were lifting, or they had rattled lose.

Jose

sleeperz28

Ill check the studs to see if they were loose. I pulled my cap and rotor and there was black carbon build up on it. Maybe that was causing my miss? I scraped the terminals clean, Ill have to see if that cures the problem.

The car did lose water a few times but according to the gauge it never got to red. When it popped the temp was at 190. When I get the motor disasembled Ill let you know what everything looks like.

Guido

Good luck.

Have you ever had that thing on a drag strip? I bet its pretty insane.

SMOKNZ

Last time my head gasket went I was dumping a program in the car at the track, and I unplugged the relay that turned on the intercooler fans and electric water pump. I forgot to put it back in, and when in the staging lanes I noticed that the temp gauge was in the red I plugged it in, and temps went down quick. I had made 2 more runs that day before it finally went. It blew outside, not inside thank god. Upon dissasembly i discovered all the lower head bolts were not tight at all (stock type TTY bolts) I figured I stretched them and the heads lifted. I upgraded to Felpro 1074 gaskets and ARP bolts, but the heads started leaking again everytime I got into heavy boost. This time I had the heads milled flat (took off .006") and the block is being decked, so I know everything will be flat. I'm using studs as well.

You'll have to see whats up with the gasket to figure out what caused the failure. What gasket are you using?

Bill

sleeperz28

I just pulled the head off the car. #8 blew. I got oil and water everywhere. I did a leak down on the rest of the motor, everything looks good but #8. I think im just going to replace the gasket and put her back in.

As for cleaning up the oil and water inside the motor, what do most of you do? I was thinking of just putting clean oil in running it for a few miles then change it.

INTMD8

I assume you made a timing pointer to sync the distributor?

Any possiblity you got some bad gas?

sleeperz28

the dist was setup fine. I ran the car for a few nights got some really good pulls on it. took it on the power tour and 1000 miles later its missing, then it blows. I pulled my cap and rotor and both were chard black. All the tips already had carbon build up. Hopefully that was the problem with the miss.

As for bad gas im not sure...I did put some new stuff in before the power tour, so its possible. One thing I did notice after the distributor mod is the car pulls a hell of a lot harder on the top end. probably feels like an extra 60-70rwhp. So im not sure if my timing was possibly too high. I run about 26degrees at 20psi. then plan about 23 egrees at 25psi. This is all on 110 octane. Maybe im pushing the limits on this gas. What are you running for timing at 20lbs?

Highlander

When you say #8 blew you mean blew the gasket or the piston??

chris@speedinc.

My car makes the most power with 19 degrees at peak torque and 21 degrees at peak HP.

More timing and it lost alot of power.

INTMD8

Posted under the wrong name above.