Im starting to lean towards a blown head gasket as being my cars problem because it smokes from the right side and i smell alot of gas as well. And im thinking maybe the coolant leaking in is killing the spark in there. The miss is pretty consitant for the most part yet it will sometimes fade in/out for a second.

http://www.freewebs.com/fordz28/MVI_0513AVI
http://www.freewebs.com/fordz28/MVI_0514.AVI

Hopefully those links work they are 2 vids i took of the car. The first vid shows the miss really well. The 2nd shows that after a minute the car starts smoking.

Also shouldnt my upper radiator hose have pressure in it, even when the engine is cold? I could squeeze it almost all the way through last night.

 

If it is indeed coolant in the exhaust it will be steam coming out and not smoke. The steam will dissipate much quicker than oil smoke, it will be more white in color instead of blueish tint and will smell like coolant. The radiator hose will not be under pressure if the system is cold...at least not much...you will be able to squeeze it. Bottom line is yes a blown head gasket can cause a miss.

 

Yeah a blown head gasket can cause a miss. You might want to check your heads too. On my blazer I had a miss. Not all the time though. I also noticed steam comming from the exhaust. I assumed head gasket. So I tore off the head (4 cyl) and the gakset looked fine. I had the heads tested, and there were 2 small cracks in them. I couldn't even see them. It had an iron block and aluminum heads. So, your diagnosis sounds pretty good, but I would check your heads as well. BTW, maybe my computer is a POS, but the links didn't work for me.

 

Thanks! And the smoke does dissappate pretty quickly now that you mention it. Its hard to smell the coolant over all the gas im smelling(which might be because the coolant is blowing out the spark).

 

Well if i pull the heads ill probably just have them ported anyways while they are out. So ill have them checked for cracks as well.

Thanks guys, ive been chasing this problem frantically to get my car back quickly. Been through everything from springs to loose roller rockers and collapsed lifters etc... But im definently leaning towards the head gasket. Which isnt expensive, but a PITA to work on.

 

Good luck to ya. Deffiantly let us know what happens.

 

Im just mad that it blew when it did, i wanted to see the gain from doing the LT/true duals over my Mac mids and cutout.

Then i was going to see what #'s i got from just porting the heads on a bolt-on lt1.

All my car had to last was another week for me to dyno. *shakes head*