I'm
sure by now you have completed the project, if not, e-mail me offline, and I can
give you a few pointers. The same thing happened to me from a bad
thermostat, except what I thought was a blown head gasket, turned out to be a
cracked head. Did you check which side was blowin white smoke before you
tore the motor apart? It could have saved you half the work. By the
way, I ran mineral spirits through my engine before reassembly, to clear out all
the water and polluted oil. Once you finish, run it for about 20 minutes,
and then do an oil change.
Sarge
-----Original Message-----
From: Rodney. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2003 9:02 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Chevelle-list] blown head gasket
From: Rodney. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2003 9:02 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Chevelle-list] blown head gasket
Let me see if this will go through this time.Hey guys...I need some advice. I've never taken an engine apart before (until tonight). I blew a head gasket on my new crate engine (thermostat stuck). At the time, I thought I pulled off the road and got water in the rad. in time before any damage. I then had problems starting the car, so I thought the starter was going bad. I checked the oil at that time to make sure it looked okay and that I didn't blow a head gasket. I replaced the starter and had no problems starting for a couple of days. Then I started having starting problems again. I checked the rad. and I had mysterious disappearance of coolant and no visible leaks. So I checked the oil again and this time it looked like a chocolate milk shake. So I knew I had a blown head gasket. I was going to have a shop do it, but after I found out how much labor cost, I almost had a heart attack. I decided I'm going to figure it out myself (and the Internet :) ).So, I'm asking for your help guys! I bought a crate engine so I wouldn't have to do this stuff... so much for that theory. Can you guys offer me any advice in doing this? Are there things I need to check while I have the engine apart or should I be okay to just replace the head gaskets and put everything back the way it was? The engine is a 350 (375 horse), alum. L-98 corvette heads, Q-Jet, alum. intake manifold. Are there any special precautions to take with the aluminum stuff? I know to use anti-seize on the threads for the alum. stuff. Is there anything else? Any advice on torque patterns for the intake manifold? Tom Sallee said to torque them down in a circle. I've never heard anyone else recommend this. What do you guys think?How should I go about cleaning the engine? It seems like I should have to run something through it initially to clean it to get the watery oil out. what's the best procedure for this?Can you offer any other tips? I should have sent this out sooner, since i"m going to get started on it again in the morning, but I didn't think about it until after I was done working on it today. I just worked on getting everything unbolted today. All i have left to do is a couple bolts on the intake and a couple of header bolts, then I'm ready to start taking the roller rockers off, etc.Thanks for any advice!Rodney.71 ChevelleEl Mirage, AZ
