blown headgasket?

[66Sprint6]

Well...took the stang out last night and was playin around a bit on a looooong stretch...boost set at 10psi I steped in it thru 2nd 3rd and 4th gear to about 90mph then let out...car "ticked" a little under boost in a few spots, but nothin came apart. Anyways, under accelleration, the car was fine, but when I pushed the clutch in the motor would stumble and nearly die, eventually dying when I had to come to a stop. It fired right back up, idled a bit rough then drove home with a slight stumble but nothin to be concerned about...no smoke, good oil pressure etc. Got out and checked the motor and there is a nice line of coolant starting from the front of the motor goin all the way to the back on the drivers side between the head and block. Headgasket slightly blown maybe??? Lately its been havin trouble starting, low vacuum and stumbles until you give it 2000rpm steady for a second then it idles better, vacuum slowly climbs to where it should be and the car runs great after that...what could be causin that? Anyways, sorry for the jumbled post, gotta run to work but wanted to get that out there before I start tearin it down this weekend
Matt

 

[XFlow_Fairlane]

hey the nice thing about a 200.....no timing to worry about (unlike the 2.3L's I am used to) no intake to deal with...just pop the exhaust off and the rockers and swap it out. I found when doing the 2.3L HG's that leaving as much attached makes it easier.....

pop th edizzy cap off leaving all the wires (but the coil wire) on it and just loop it over the head.

leave the carb on just pop the linkage off it (or cable)

braided line or hard line will speed up the swap too since you won't be messing with pulling rubber hoses off (mine like to tear for some reason when I pull them off) or hose clamps. a AN line makes it quick to hook things up.

I have been thinking of making a turbo brace that will support the turbo on its own so I can just zip the mani bolts out and remove the head without having to even think of lifting the turbo.

 

[Does10s]

Ya Kelly and I made a tool to lift the entire head assembly off at one time. The head, intake, carb, header, turbo, and downpipe can come off as one unit.
We just pull the valve cover, rocker arms, and pushrods. Attach the tool where the rocker arms bolt in, and lift the entire unit.
One of these days I'll take a picture of it.

But back on subject...
Do a leak down or at least a compression test before you start teardown. That will tell you real fast if the head gasket is gone.
Might also want to check to see if you have bubbles in the radiator. Pull the rad. cap off and start the motor. If the gasket is blown between the cyl and coolant passage then you'll see sometimes see some bubbles.
Check your oil. If if looks like a chocolate milkshake, it's got water/coolant in it. Also look at the bottom of the oil filler cap. If water in the oil, then there will be condensation there after the motor gets warm.

Have fun!
Will

 

[66Sprint6]

something Ive noticed lately is steam coming from the breather/oil cap etc...I got the gasket comin tomorrow and the teardown starts tomorrow night...cant wait lol

Ive been wantin to make a brace for the turbo too, that will be the tricky part but will be nice to check for exhaust leaks etc while Im at it.

Wish me luck!
Matt

 

[kirkallen143]

Good luck to ya Matt, it is really nothing to change out a headgasket. I was really getting good at it after the third one blew.

Are you going to try any type of copper spray or some kind of sealer on the HG? Just curious. I have not used any myself. What brand of HG are you going to use?

Make sure you double check your total timing and you are using fresh high octane gasoline when it is all back together. That way, hopefully it will not happen again to you.

Kirk

 

[66Sprint6]

Well...got the headgasket out, and its not broken anywhere, its not ripped but the ring around the #2 and #5 cylinders was warped so bad they were egg shaped and the metal rings were nearly at the edge of the head/block. Couldnt find how coolant was leaking, but you can see all over the block where the coolant had been leakind for some time now and discoloring the paint. I remember this being pretty laid back last time I pulled the head off and it truely was pretty simple, but now I gotta put it back together and hope it runs better lol. Im replacing all the gaskets as I go, carb, exhaust etc and Ill be using copper spray on the FelPro gasket that I got locally and see how she holds up...OH...and Ill be paying special attention to how the head bolts are torqued to make SURE they are right.
Matt