I just pulled my motor apart and found the exact same thing. The white buildup around the top with the yellow foam on the inside of the valve covers. I pulled the heads off and found a cylinder full of water. Its definitely not worth the risk of leaving it together and assuming its not a blown head gasket. Especially considering that you already have the intake and valve covers off. Thats just my .02.

 

DAM IT DAM IT DAM IT. Little lait SilverBullit. I already put it back together. I started it up and let it run for about 10 min, i was idleing smooth it would rev clean and quick. I didnt have time to finish it b/c it was 9:30 and I'm sure my neibors dont like hearing my car that late, its kinda loud. I will top off the coolant and Drive it easy around the block a couple of times, get it up to temp and see what happens. If not I'll just take it all back apart......

 

Its the head gaskets............ I guess I will tear it alllll back apart. It will be fun.

 

Just watch and see if it uses any coolant. It's normal for the white stuff on the filler cap.

 

Without taking anything apart there are some simple methods to diagnose if you have a blown head gasket.

1) Is it using coolant?
2) How does it run?
3) Is your oil contaminated?
4) Smoke (white sweetish smelling) in exhaust?
5) Perform a cooling system pressure test
- engine not running see if it holds pressure
- engine running see if cooling system is getting compression pressure (needle may bounce/vibrate)
6) Perform a cylinder compression test
7) Perform a cylinder leak down test
8) When doing #7 & #8 above, check the plugs for abnormal electrode color
9) Drain coolant looking for contamination (brown oil)

These are all things you should be doing before you start to rip things apart saving your self possible extra cost.

You say it definitely is the head gaskets?? Are you are saying both your head gaskets are blown??

I blew a head gasket at 50k, it didn't smoke and used coolant very slowly,, the cooling system pessure test did identify it for me.

If you only have the valve covers and intake off you can still do a cooling system pressure test and still do a compression test.

 

yes I am sure its the head gaskets ,I got the heads off and the #7 cylinder fire ring was busted. The oil was clean, coolant was clean the car did run very well, had a slight miss. It sound like it had a blown head gasket, had a gergle sound to it, did not burn any white smoke. So thats why I was wondering. I must have just happened because the cylinder was still clean. The good news is, the cross stiching is still very visable on the cylinders with my miles, the pistons are clean enough to eat off of, and the combuston chambers have no carbon at all, the intake valve is almost black and the exhaust valve is a nice light brown with good color through out the chamber.

The bad news, One of my valve springs were BROKEN! And where the locks grab onto the valve is starting to rool over, so I will get new valves and springs and might as well get new guides. I was very happy to see the cylinders and the pistons looking the way they did.

 

well man im glad everything shortblock wise turned out to be ok for ya
i dunno man if i were you and was that deep in there id take a crazy hard look at the hotcam kit
just a suggestion

 

I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!! Its just, my luck I would spin a cam bearing. I do have good oil pressure though But man I would LOVE to a just a lil bumpaty bumpaty bumpaty. I wont even think about the 847 till the motor is redone.

 

yeah the 847 pulls so high its INSANE
but i thik the hotcam would be a nice upgrade
i dont think you would spin a bearing from that though its not that much more insane than stock but it would also give you the driveability factor not tryin to push it or anything but if youve already got it torn down that far your likely hood of spining a bearing is already there so why not ya know but i hope it all works out for ya man
i know how much stupid crap like this sucks

 

dam it man, you need to quit talking to me like this



Hmmm, hot cam.......

 

well if your gonna start talking about the hotcam....might want to consider getting your heads redone too. just to be safe!

i just had a blown head gasket and look what kind of mods that turned into for me (below)

 

The heads are getting redone, I want to get new valves because the tips of mine are starting to roll over. So I dont want to take the chance of droping a valve. So new springs, ret., locks and valves for me. Might as well get new guides to. More money.