keep blowing head gaskets, next step

[twinturbo66]

Hello All,As you can see from my signature I have a 66 mustang coupewith a fuel injected 347 stroker motor. It has twin T3/T4 turbo’s and the power is put down through a Lentec AODwith a manual valve body. I have an 8.8rear axle but it has a worn out diff and only 28 spline axles.
Here is the issue, My car keeps blowing head gaskets. Nowthis last time I’m not 100% sure that it was a blown head gasket but I’m maybe90% sure. I haven’t broken down themotor yet to see.




1) The first time the car blew a head gasket I hadn’tcompletely upgraded the cooling system to what it is now so I thought that itoverheating maybe caused the head gasket to blow… When my mechanic broke downthe motor he realized that the original guy that put it together used the wronghead gaskets, didn’t have stuff torqued to spec and he didn’t have the AFRheads machined for the ringlock head gaskets. I figured all those contributed to it so we fixed it and put it backtogether. Also resolved the overheatingby installing a Ron Davis radiator with a nice shroud and twin electric fans,Mezeire electric water pump and a custom Turbonetics Air to Airintercooler. We also added a transcooler and an oil cooler to help keep all my fluid temps down.


2) So the car was tuned and was putting down around450whp and 440tq through the AOD. I knowwith even a low estimate on drivetrain loss that it had over 500hp at the crankwhich could have contributed to the motor giving up or whatever happened.


I’m currently deployed and I’m trying to decide which optionand where to go from here. I figure thebelow are my best options. With any ofthese I would more than likely have to get a IFS front suspension to remove myshock towers for better clearance and air flow. I would also have to throw in about 1k towardsstrengthening my Lentech and another 1500 for the rearend to give me new axlesand a new diff.


1) Get a nice 347 Cubic inch (331 stroke with thelarger bore giving me 347) DART block with forged internals and throw on some larger flowing AFR heads, larger injectors andturn up the boost.


2) Get rid of the turbos and simply thow in a nicenew Coyote motor with a six speed auto out of a new 5.0.


3) Grab a Junkyard LS motor for $600 bucks and turnup the boost until I blow it and after that spend another $600. Pretty cheap. Iwould get instantly banned from this site and shunned anytime someone asks meto open up the hood.
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1966 Mustang Coupe- late model 347 FI Stroker motor 9:1:1(I believe), twin T3/T4 Hybrids, Lentech AOD w/manual valvebody. SN95 Front suspension with 4 wheel Cobra Disc brakes using hydraboost. 8.8inch rear end, 28 spline axles/3.55 gears and worn out diff. 450hp/440tq @10lbs of boost

[sam 74]

i vote #3, thats just funny right there. seriously though did you guys check that everything was flat after the gasket blew, a warped deck will blow gaskets everytime, same goes for the heads, this is provided that everything else is good with the setup, not over boosting the motor, have correct studs/bolts in place.

[Schwartz Performance]

You didn't mention anything about your build, do you have ARP head studs? The heads may be lifting enough to blow the gasket if you just have stock style bolts.

-Dale

[Derek@ModernSpeed]

Sounds to me it's one of the following:

Fasteners are stretching, and allowing the heads to lift

Head surface, or deck surface is not straight, or doesn't have the correct surface finish

Wrong Head gaskets

Aggressive Tune, and the engine is suffering from detonation.

If I had my pick of the 3 options you listed, I would go with option 1 or 2. Option 2 is tough to beat.

[Build-It-Break-It]

First off, thank you for serving or country.

I would use the K.I.S.S. method, keep it simple stupid. So many times people jump to conclusions and start throwing money at the problem without first stepping back and checking the simple things first.

Since your overseas its hard to verify things with your mechanic or check for yourself ,so I Hope you have an honest builder. I posted a couple of simple things to get the brain flowing of what to check.

1. Flat head surface, aluminum warps easy when overheated
2. Proper spark plug gap and spark to each cylinder
3. Timing, improper timing will make the car run hot
4. Stretching head bolts as stated earlier, use ARP with there sealant on the threads
5. Thermostat sticking closed
6. Coolant level and properly bled for air bubbles
7. Water pump belt on in the proper rotation for the water pump. Sounds stupid but I've seen people install serpentine belts on water pumps but making them rotate in the wrong direction causing them not to flow in the proper direction
8. electric or belt driven fan pulling air instead of pushing air into the radiator
9. Lower radiator Hose collapsing when thermostat opens pulling in cooler coolant into the block. Use stainless steel coiled spring inside the hoses to keep the radiator Hose open when the coolant cycles.
10. Radiator cap is holding correct pressure and not leaking
I can keep going but you get the picture. Hopefully its something cheap and simple.

Hope this helped somewhat

[twinturbo66]

First off, thank you for serving or country.

I would use the K.I.S.S. method, keep it simple stupid. So many times people jump to conclusions and start throwing money at the problem without first stepping back and checking the simple things first.

Since your overseas its hard to verify things with your mechanic or check for yourself ,so I Hope you have an honest builder. I posted a couple of simple things to get the brain flowing of what to check.

1. Flat head surface, aluminum warps easy when overheated
2. Proper spark plug gap and spark to each cylinder
3. Timing, improper timing will make the car run hot
4. Stretching head bolts as stated earlier, use ARP with there sealant on the threads
5. Thermostat sticking closed
6. Coolant level and properly bled for air bubbles
7. Water pump belt on in the proper rotation for the water pump. Sounds stupid but I've seen people install serpentine belts on water pumps but making them rotate in the wrong direction causing them not to flow in the proper direction
8. electric or belt driven fan pulling air instead of pushing air into the radiator
9. Lower radiator Hose collapsing when thermostat opens pulling in cooler coolant into the block. Use stainless steel coiled spring inside the hoses to keep the radiator Hose open when the coolant cycles.
10. Radiator cap is holding correct pressure and not leaking
I can keep going but you get the picture. Hopefully its something cheap and simple.

Hope this helped somewhat

1) I've blown two head gaskets in this car now. The same AFR185 heads have been on it both times. After the first time when we started tearing into the motor we realized that the wrong head gaskets were being used, the heads weren't torqued properly, AND the heads weren't machined for ringlock gaskets which is what they recommend on AFRs website. An engine shop checked the heads, said they weren't warped and then machined them for the ringlock gaskets.
2) I'm not sure what the spark plug gap is, my mechnic did it though
3)I know after the first blown head gasket my mechanic had to completely reset the timing because the mark on the damper was gone
4) AFR also recommended ARP head bolts with extensions or something on their site so we switched to those
5) We replaced the thermostat
6) We switched to Evans waterless coolant with an appropriate radiator cap since the system is then under a lot less pressure
7) I did have overheating issues for a long time with this car and had to finally go to an electric Mezeire water pump(flowing proper direction)
8) upgraded to a Ron Davis Radiator with a nice dual electric fan setup with sensors directing it to kick on at certain temps(had a manual switch as well)
9) I'll have to find out about the lower radiator hose. I know that everything was checked when we put in the Ron Davis radiator but I'm not sure about the lower hose.

[andrewb70]

I vote Coyote...while it is nice to have forced induction, it is extremely difficult to do it right and have it live in a road racing type of environment. Just look at the lengths that Mark Stelow goes to with his supercharged builds.

A Coyote will be fast, light, and simple.

Andrew

[MonzaRacer]

First of all how much boost, have you ever thought of a water/meth injection kit and how much timing/retard?
As for stock 302 block, you go much past 500hp your on borrowed time. Either it will split or be so weak it wont hold together gasket wise.
Is your engine built with aftermarket internals(crank rods pistons) as I thin k you have?
If so why not have Dart or World block ready and swap over all internals and use fresh fasteners.
I've built several AFR headed NOS engine, one blower engine and never ran orings, just alu compatible gaskets.
And I have had orings installed in NA and NOS engines.
Proper surface prep, solid surface(like on production GM blocks we pipe plugged big holes and redrilled/surfaced the deck).
Peak cyl pressure is critical part. And detonation. Too much advance before pulling timing under boost will push gaskets too.

[MonzaRacer]

oh yeah
http://www.turbomirage.com/water-alc...arts-list.html