Ailing engine (Updated after teardown)

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RustyRatRod said:
It was either getting water or oil in. Caint compress either one of them. lol
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I'm guessing a little bit of oil was getting in from the lifter valley. There was light blue in the exhaust but not a lot like you would get with rings being worn out.
I don't know what the cylinder pressure should be in an 8 to 1 compression engine, but what I am thinking might be a possibility is that #8 still has the proper pressure and the rest are low due to gasket leakage. If you look close the other cylinders have deformed the gasket as well.

Jack
 
This may sound stupid as each cyl is individual, but is there a way 4 or 6 contribute/feed to higher #'s on 8?
Good news that nothing seems too obvious(besides 4/6), but a head scratcher for sure
 
4spdragtop said:
This may sound stupid as each cyl is individual, but is there a way 4 or 6 contribute/feed to higher #'s on 8?
Good news that nothing seems too obvious(besides 4/6), but a head scratcher for sure
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It's going to take somebody that knows more than me to answer that question. lol

Jack
 
4spdragtop said:
This may sound stupid as each cyl is individual, but is there a way 4 or 6 contribute/feed to higher #'s on 8?
Good news that nothing seems too obvious(besides 4/6), but a head scratcher for sure
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Yup and it's not stupid. That's a smart question. Adjacent cylinders and sometimes even those across from each other say on shared intake runners can affect each other. I don't think you'll see across cylinders affecting each other on a single plane intake, though.
 
If you're not using head studs, you should be.
Cometic gasket and head studs will solve the problem.
The most important issue when using the cometic gasket is the surface finish.
 
Thanks Rob, is there something "wrong" with #8 numbers? Are they actually too high?
RustyRatRod said:
Yup and it's not stupid. That's a smart question. Adjacent cylinders and sometimes even those across from each other say on shared intake runners can affect each other. I don't think you'll see across cylinders affecting each other on a single plane intake, though.
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That is a sure sign of detonation. Whatever you do, you have to get that under control.

Water injection if you must but a good curve in the distributor and getting the coolant temp down to 180 or less (160 would be best) and double check the heat range of the plugs.

I’d be looking at the rod bearings. They have been getting beat on.
 
4spdragtop said:
Thanks Rob, is there something "wrong" with #8 numbers? Are they actually too high?
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Probably. It's tough to call though since so many of the cylinders have distorted fire rings. If I had to guess, I'd say #8 was getting water or oil in, #6 was low for "whatever" reason and the rest were "about right", but it's anybody's guess.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yup and it's not stupid. That's a smart question. Adjacent cylinders and sometimes even those across from each other say on shared intake runners can affect each other. I don't think you'll see across cylinders affecting each other on a single plane intake, though.
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I’ve been meaning to ask if you still had a pro stock hood scoop for sale. I thought you had one for sale.

If so and you want to sell it PM me.
 
Newbomb Turk said:
I’ve been meaning to ask if you still had a pro stock hood scoop for sale. I thought you had one for sale.

If so and you want to sell it PM me.
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Nope. I gave it to a friend for a wall hanger. I don't get into stuff like that but he does.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Probably. It's tough to call though since so many of the cylinders have distorted fire rings. If I had to guess, I'd say #8 was getting water or oil in, #6 was low for "whatever" reason and the rest were "about right", but it's anybody's guess.
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I'd say water was getting in there. Remember steam cleaning our engines by pouring water into the carb? Sure did the job of cleaning those chambers & piston tops!
 
The cometics are available in a variety of thicknesses.Now would be a good time to freshen the heads MLS gaskets as stated above need proper surface finish,If you do the math you could lower your static a bit.And I know there pricey but get the studs.
 
I was just checking out the cometics. There is a 4 week wait at minimum. That's nuts. I wonder what other options there are?

Jack
 
When I was shopping there were some copper ones out there but no real options on thickness.Or go with another set of Fel Pros, with studs and maybe get another few years out of it.
 
Coyote Jack said:
I was just checking out the cometics. There is a 4 week wait at minimum. That's nuts. I wonder what other options there are?

Jack
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Jack, Summit shows several sets of Cometics in stock with different thicknesses.
 
My brother in law bought a 74 Duster early last year. It was running rough, so I decided to take a look at it. Found lots of oil in number 3 cylinder. It had a head gasket blown out that looked just like yours. Pulled the heads and had them resurfaced by a race engine shop. I bought a machinist's straight edge from Summit to check the block deck surface and found that the deck was pulled up at each of the top row of head bolts. I could fit a .003" feeler gauge under the straight edge right where the gasket blew out. So I thought the engine needed to come out. The machine shop thought I should just put it back together and try it before going to the extra trouble. I thought about that for a couple days before deciding to try a very small file on the deck to see what that would do. I put paper towels in each cylinder and sprayed a little WD40 on them so they would stick to the cylinder walls to catch any filings they landed there. I worked on and off for a couple days on the raised area around the head bolt holes until the worst place was still right where the gasket blew out but a .0015" feeler gauge was snug under the straight edge. One of the race engine shop guys said the Fel-Pro 1008 head gaskets needed .002" or less. Put it all back together using ARP 144-4001 studs, drove it easy a couple of miles, rechecked for leaks, and took it out on the road. My brother in law said stomp down on it so I did. And, the throttle linkage hung wide open. I was tapping the gas pedal hoping it would pop back but no luck. I finally had to turn the switch off while hoping I didn't lock the steering wheel. Got the funky throttle linkage straightened out and all is well. Anyway, that was a pretty good test and no gasket problems.

www.summitracing.com

DODGE ARP 144-4001 ARP Pro Series Cylinder Head Studs | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - ARP Pro Series Cylinder Head Studs with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Cylinder Head Fasteners at Summit Racing.
www.summitracing.com www.summitracing.com

These studs have the allen wrench ends so they can installed through the heads with the heads in place and the engine in the car.
 
On another subject, one of my friends was running Cometic MLS head gaskets on his 500" B Altered Pontiac Grand Am, and he had problems with water leaking out between the head gasket layers. He ended up drilling out the rivets and sealing between each layer. I think he said he sprayed copper coat on each layer.

I was also told that the block deck surface has to be very smooth to use the Cometic MLS gaskets. That helped me decide to use the Fel-Pro 1008 gaskets.
 
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I just came back in from taking the drivers side head off. It was pretty much the same story as the passenger side, just not as bad. It looks like I am going to get out of this with just some gaskets.

I did check into what my pressures should be and it looks like with an 8.2 to 1 engine like I have my cylinder pressure should be about 155 psi. So the 168 was not that far out of line.

Here are a couple of photos of the drivers side.

Jack

DRIVERS SIDE001.jpg


DRIVERS SIDE002.jpg


DRIVERS SIDE003.jpg
 
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