Hi everyone. I am new to this forum but figured this would be the best place to be. I am also new to camaros im a previous import guy. so anyways here is the deal. Yesterday i bought a 1996 camaro z28. car has 197k miles on it on original motor i believe. On the way home it blew a head gasket. The car didnt overheat but the temp did go up pretty high just under the red and smoke started pouring out of the exhaust. I bought a manual and im going to start taking the heads off but before i do i got a couple of questions. i do know that i am definately going to take the car up to check if the heads are warped and get them resurfaced i think. I have done research since last night trying to figure out these quetions that is why i am posting. oh yeah the car is hooked for Nos.
question#1 what causes these motors to blow head gaskets. things that i can check for now. instead of replacing the head gaskets and blowing them again.
question#2 What else should i replace during this. i want to keep it stock because i am going to buy a bare block and build it for a twin turbo set up so i dont rely want to mod this one.
question#3 the nos plate is still on i dont know anything about it so can i just take it off and it will run fine. Me and the previous owner arent on talking terms.
question#4 if i am keeping the car stock i can just buy the gasket replacement kit from autozone. i do know that they carry i just dont rely know if there are any better ones or that i need a better one in the first place.

I want to say in advance thanks for your replys. i know that you cant diagnose my car over the internet and thats not what im looking for. just looking for some general info on what you guys do when you replace the head gaskets. thank you very much.

 

Overheating is a primary cause of a blown head gasket. Aluminum heads, cast iron block and steel bolts all have different coefficients of thermal expansion. Over heat, and the gaskets may let go. Add a heavy shot of nitrous, activate it at low RPM, and you have significantly increased the cylinder combustion pressures and temperatures. That can blow the head gasket.

Maintained properly and not abused, using nitrous the correct way, will not lead to a blown head gasket. Its improper maintenance and abuse of the juice (or forced induction) that will blow the gaskets. I ran nitrous on my stock LT1 with no problems at all. Big shot of nitrous on the stroker and no problems either.

Heads may be warped. They need to be checked and resurfaced as required.

You indicate there is a nitrous "plate". Do you mean a plate sandwiched between the throttle body and the intake manifold? If so, it can be removed and the TB bolted back, directly to the manifold. Make sure you use a gasket. You will probably need to adjust the throttle cable. You nee to make sure you remove the fuel supply accessories, and block off the point where the nitrous system takes the fuel from the main system.

 

might have already been hurt and some scumbag put block seal in it. look for new parts like waterpump, radiator,hoses, or bypassed heater core as they might have fixed the original problem and just tried to cover up the damage.

 

injuneer thanks for the reply as i figured the nos is what did it. and yes the plate is the thing between the tb and the intake manifold. maybee its not called that i dont rely know. im not rely sure what fuel supply accessories i am looking for Im not rely sure whats normal on there. so its kind of hard to find stuff that isn't normal so if you or someone else could elaborate on that it would be awesome. i am going to start pulling it apart right now actually.
brubaker thats exactly what i figured. it was probably messed up before i bought it and thats why i got it for such a good price. but its all good it just means a little more work for me. as long as i can figure it out and get it back to normal

 

Its called a "plate" type system, if that's where it is located. However, it isn't called "nos"..... that's a specific brand of nitrous systems. Its nitrous, N2O, etc.

There should be two braided S/S lines attached to the plate. One is the nitrous supply, usually done with blue fittings (but not necessarily). Depends what they left in the car. If there is no nitrous bottle and no line to the plate, they removed the nitrous components.

Ditto with the fuel portion. If there is a braided S/S hose with red fittings, that is typically the fuel. If there is no line there now, you have nothing to remove. If there is a line attached, typically, they take the fuel supply off the Schrader valve, on the hard line, behind the passenger side fuel rail. Shoebox has a photo of the stock system:

http://shbox.com/1/fp_reg.jpg

If the line is still attached to the Schrader valve, it would then run to a solenoid that turns the fuel for the nitrous system on and off, and then to the plate. When you remove the fitting from the Schrader valve, you need to install the stock valve core in the valve, or it will spray fuel all over the place.

First check to see if there are any lines attached to the plate. If there are no lines, did they at least plug the holes for the lines? If not, you had a major vacuum leak, with air bypassing the MAF sensor.

 

i know that nos is a brand of nitrous. it was just easier to type that way but i wont do it again. the nitrous plate is still there and it has the lines coming off that you described. they were taped with electric tape but not plugged. After i took off the throttle body the plate was stuck on there pretty good. since i have to get a new gasket anyways should i just pry it off there?? I pulled on it pretty good but its definately on there. Thanks for the picture. it looks just like mine so i guesse they removed that part already. I am definately not going to have fun doing this while removing the electicall stuff for the intake. i noticed there is alot of them unplugged already. im guessing they go to the emissions related stuff so im going to look up how to delete all of that to make it easier on install. I also need to go get the tool to remove the fuel lines.

 

There's not a lot of wired stuff on the front of the engine that is limited to the emissions system. Most of it is critical to the PCM's engine management. The AIR pump can be unplugged and removed, but things like the coolant temp sensor, the inlet air temp sensor, idle air control motor, TPS sensor and the MAF sensor and the MAP sensor are required inputs/driven devices. Your engine will not run right without them. The engine won't run at all if the connector to the Optispark distributor is unhooked.

Given what appears to be a seriously molested engine, I would get it on a scanner and check for codes.

 

thats on my list of stuff to do as soon as i get the head gaskets on. I was going to do it on the way back from buying it but it started to run real bad and i was in traffic so i limped it home. I know there are some definate issues but i wanted to build a car anyways. I know that the check engine light is on but so is every light in the dash and i mean everyone so i figured that there was a slight electrical issue. I know that the car ran extremely good for the test drive and for the first two miles on the way home before the head gasket. so i just figured as i unpluged i marked the connections. and what ever is connected i would try to track and what i dont need im going to ditch. but yeah i definately got some serious issues. Im just trying to take them one at a time.

 

sorry about your head gasket, but you wanna sell the nitrous plate?