who here has done there own head swap's on a Ls1.

I did one on mine and blew a head gasket.. What should I look out for during round 2..

Im only replacing the one.. I asked the dealer what they would charge and he said they would recomend doing them both for 1700 dollars.. (why would they recomend doing them both?)

Ill save the 1650 and do It my self.,

 

they prolly didnt realize you already swaped them once, and the idea is once you have the intake and other head off, its alot easier to replace the other side then if it were to blow later and just have to replace that one too.

as for blowing one of the new head gaskets, were they GM gaskets? did you use a razor blade to scrape off all the remnants of the old gasket? also, did you torque the head bolts down in the proper order? what about to the correct torque THEN to the proper extra degrees of turn? lastly, your head or deck surface could be warped. which is another reason to take them both off now, to check them both for flatness and even to just have them milled to back to perfect flatness. if you just want to check it for flatness when you have it off you'll need an machinist flat edege. it looks like a really thick ruler and the one Ive seen at work (our heavy eng. repair guy has one) is about the same length as the block is deep. so it will span across all 4 cyl.s. there is a spec. to stay within before it needs to be resurfaced. (block AND head gasket surface) I'll try to remember to look up that spec today at work.

chris

 

What so you mean by blown?? What fastners did you use, new stock, ARP bolts, ARP studs?
I did the heads on mine and had a small coolant leak at the back corner of the DS head. Put some coolant system sealer pellets in the radiator, following the directions on the package, and it quit. Been fine ever since. This is with the stock type multi layer steel gaskets and the head and block were clean enough to eat off from.

 

There's been some good advice already. I would add to ensure all head bolt holes are dry because a little coolant left in one can really cause problems.

A plastic scraper will help to keep you from gouging the aluminum when doing gasket cleanup.

I used stock GM head gaskets on my 98 (non mls) and arp bolts. No problems afterward.

 

very good point kevyn. the bolt holes have to be COMPLETELY CLEAN and nothing sitting in the bottom of them. coolant or gasket pieces will not allow the bolt to thread in all the way and will throw off the clamping force of the bolt.
I also only have used the stock replacement gaskets.
new GM head bolts
by blown I mean leaking either from cyl. to cyl. or leaking externally.
plastic scraper is prolly good idea, but I personallly use a flat square razor blade in my fingers and hold it at a 90deg. angle to the head/deck surface. so you your not slicing off the gasket stuff, your scraping it off. just dont use a screwdriver. and what gaskets did you use before?

 

I used All Felpro gasket's and Head bolts.

I decided im going to take it somewhere to have it done..

Exotic Performance Charges 520 bucks for a head swap.

I'll let them deal with this head-ache

 

just make sure and tell them the situation so they pay special attention to the surface's.

 

bobby why didnt you go ARP head bolts? when i do my head swap in a couple of weeks im switching to ARP head bolts and a metal multi layer head gasket (not sure of a brand yet) ya cant cheap out on an expensive job

 

If I am correct the Fel-pro gasket is thinner than stock. From what I read on LS1 tech they say dont go any thinner than stock head gasket on a motor that has not been resurfaced and heads that havent been milled. Let me know how it gose. I am gitting my heads tomarrow and am about to put them on...
Dane

 

Could you post the Part number to these gaskets Mavricki?

 

i put on some fel-pros, the dam oreillys guy told me to use sealant, I did, and now I know its a bad idea, so I've got to change them again!!!