anyone know the average price shops charge in so cal for head gasket replacements?

 

its kind of hard to find an average for our cars around here. Most small shops dont even like touch the lt1 and if they do they want to charge an arm and a leg. I would have to say an average around here would be around $700.

 

It's actually pretty easy. I had my heads and intake off this past weekend in about 4 hours, and thats working in an apartment complex on jackstands. Shops tend to charge a ton for replacing headgaskets, good luck with what you decide.

Brandon

 

If I recall correctly, it would probably be no less than $900

 

i started the teardown the other day I gotta goal for myself to get it done: no later that january 25, since I have a court date for no front plate on the 28

 

No front plate... that's a chicken ticket... I hate it when they grind on the small stuff but there's a robbery every 18 minutes in Long Beach.

So, are you going to do the work yourself? Might as well throw in a cam while your at it... replace with Impala .029 head gaskets and it will feel like a whole new car.

 

I don't know if I would use the impala head gaskets. Seems like awfly high compression for 91 octane don't you think?

 

The static compression is high but the dynamic is low. The Dynamic Compression Ratio is where the power is at... however, the Static CR is what is advertised. Kind of like flow numbers for heads being advertised instead of port velocity... which is what counts. On a stock block, the 8.55 DCR will be perfect for that cam.

DCR typically hovers between 7.5-8.5. With 8.25 being the ideal DCR for street performance on Iron Heads. You can push that threshold to 8.5s with aluminum heads, a 160 Thermostat, and programming to drop the fans to 185*F.

 

I should add that the overlap is 55 and the exhaust has a large duration of 290 advertised on that cam.

 

I agree that dynamic compression is what really matters, but wouldn't too high static compression still cause detonation with a lower octane fuel like 91? Otherwise, why wouldn't they just eliminate static compression and just focus on dynamic. I'm not saying your wrong, just asking questions to attempt to educate myself.

good point with the cam though I suppose with a stock mild cam, there is less velocity in the combustion chambers so the engine is less prone to detonation. Is that what you were trying to say or am I talking out of my ***?

 

Hey, you're online About static compression, I can't say why manufacturers are fixed on that measure instead of dynamic. I work for a manufacturer and they advertise static. It would be very cool marketing for a performance company to advertise dynamic... opportunity!

I live in So Cal too and 91 octane is fine. There are guys with 11.3:1 SCR running around. It depends on the cam. I've got an aggressive Cam in my 69 Camaro with Iron Heads. The compression ratio is 10.78:1 on Iron heads with 91 pump gas. The cam is mean and pretty much gasses out everyone behind me. I don't recommend it for the street, it is pretty much and Open Road Racer... not drag. I'll include my signature.

Also, our decks on a stock block are .025... with a .029 head gasket we are at .054 quench. Believe it or not, that is pretty high. The ideal quench is .035-.045... this is where the valve head nearly collides with the piston head which causes great turbulance in the combustion chamber. This turbulance creates swirling that will help cool and atomize. So, the lower you are to the ideal quench, the more turbulance, the cooler your engine runs, the better atomization and usage of the cam... there are many pluses to a high DCR and ideal quench.

Personally, I'm getting the money set aside to get a .020 Copper Head gasket which will put my quench in the ideal .045 plus have the thermal properties of copper to dissipate heat, and copper is a proven head gasket. I found a Crower Cam which they call Stage 2 that will raise my DCR to 8.62:1.... a little high but again the 160 Thermostat will be installed and I'll reprogram my fans. That is about the most I can do and be smog legal.

By the way, the cam I keep referring to is the CC305. But it is questionable for Cali smog.

The above set up should get to the maximum threshold while being Cali smog compliant, then I'll add the 150 N2O shot for the occasional bursts.

 

Wild1, You should get some kind of instant messaging service (aim)....I'd love to pick your brain sometime. As for the head gasket, I guess if its been known to work with 91 octane then I guess it would be a good idea for you (Zack) to use it, since raising DC will help performance, even if you're still using the stock cam. Good luck.

 

I used to have an IM account but I couldn't get any work done I've got AOL, Yahoo, and ICQ for certain people. What's your IM?

 

Hey Zack I'll tell you what to do since I use to work for the court house. Make a copy of your ticket for yourself, send the original one with a check of $10.00 dollars and you don't have to show up for court. They'll take of it.
Nothing on your record. walla

 

cant do that though, since I havent gotten it signed off yet by the CHP