I have A 95 Z28 LT1 with 127,000 miles on it. i have a busted head or really hoping just a blown head gasket.Does anybody have any advise or tricks to make this a little easier?

 

Hi there, I am in process of taking the heads off to replace gaskets while swapping out cam. I don't think there are easy way to do. It's a time consuming but it's not too bad. The hardest thing will be taking out exhaust manifolds. Y pipe bolts probably will break. Just be patient, and label everything that you take out. By the way, this is my second time taking heads out! Let me if I can help.

 

thanks for the reply. I havnt done this on this on this type of car. Im use to the old Chevys. More room .. what all has to be done underneath the car? also is there anything i should have done to the stock heads while there off the car. I dont want to put to much strain on the high milage stock bottom end.

Thanks for any comments.

 

In addition to lableing, some digital pictures will come in handy. Now would be a great time to do headers if you ever have plans for doing them.

 

Other than the fuel injection junk, it's just another small block chevy with more wires and hoses.

 

i'm going to leave everything stock so i was woundering what the best head gaskets would be that would hold up better or last longer??

Thanks in advance

 

Well, I'm not an expert in this engine field but I'm going to give you my own experience since I replaced the head gaskets in my 97 Trans am about 2 and a half years ago......no problems yet...
I purchased the Fel Pro head gaskets with 0.039" width, that means, they are thinner than stock ones (0.050" I guess)..but you may have another option though...
The Impala LT1 V8 OEM head gaskets. Yes, They will fit in your engine. They are thinniest than stock and Fel Pro ones, If I reacall right, they have (are) 0.026" width.
In both cases, the engine compression will rise a little, no overheatings or any other problem engine could handle well.
I chose the Fel Pro ones because I did not want to reach that kind of "width limits" with the OEM Impala's...
The Fel Pro part number is, if I recall well, the FEL-7733PT2 in summitracing .com, but I t would be a good idea to check twice about this part number, since they were changed recently.

Hope this helps you and another f body bro give you more info.
Good luck
Dochidalgo

 

Felpro-1074

 

The thin ones are made by MR. GASKET and are pn 5716 I think, again double check before ordering. I have these on my car and they work Great. The stockers off my car were .053 thick the MR. Gasket that I installed was .023 Thick. I tried to get the Felpro Impy HG but every one listed the same number for the camaro or impala.

 

thanks for the info . I can't wait to get her back on the road. anymore suggestions would be very helpful.

 

the banjo bolts on the back of the heads are pita, needed a special socket to get them off but i don't recall what one (i'll try and find it for you). I just took the heads off at the same time with the bolts attached. Any question PM me.

 

Did your LT1 overheat before the gasket let go ?
I'm facing the same situation, only mine overheated on the expressway,
then after about 30 seconds of running blew the passenger side
head gasket.
I towed it home and have'nt done much since. Well, I did make a car
payment. Talked to one of the bigger Chevrolet dealerships in the valley
today, no LT1 replacement engines available that they could find. If I
went the new engine route it would take 1-2 years to save up the $$$$$.
Long time to pay for something and not drive it. I'm leaning more towards
a careful tear down and access the damage. I don't know why it puked
the coolant yet either, may have been a simple radiator hose.
Good luck to ya and continue the story !
As soon as I saw the steam/smoke I looked for a safe place to pull over,
took about 30 seconds.

 

Lot's of good information covered already, let me just add a few things-

Do not worry about removing the coolant crossover tube on the back of the heads until after the heads are off. This tube connects the back of the two heads, and runs forward towards the throttle body. Removed everything you need to get the heads off, take out head bolts, and with the tube still in place have a buddy help you remove both heads at the same time.

Make sure you scrape the deck surface on the block clean, and use parts cleaner to get it clean enough to eat off of.

Upon re-install of the heads, attach the coolant crossover tube, and screw the banjo bolts in a few turns but leave them loose. Have a friend help you re-install the heads, and then tighten the crossover tube. If you try to put the tube back in place after the heads are on, you will lose your religion.

Keep a close eye on the cooling system after it's all back together, I think a bunch of old gasket material got into my cooling system from me scraping the deck and clogged my radiator. I would recommend having the fans reprogrammed to come on sooner so the car doesn't heat up so much in traffic.

 

You will need new head bolts since they are torque to yield bolts.

 

If you hang around this board too long, you'll find that replacing head gaskets actually costs around $6,000. Why? Because you'll get talked into porting the heads, swapping the cam, upgrading injectors, putting on headers, etc..

...all in the name of, "while you're at it"...