Kelly's Falcon finally blew a gasket!

Does10s

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Well folk we found the limit to the gasket. Although not the limit for how much boost the motor can take! :D

We did some testing this last Sat. at SIR in Tucson. Kelly's first pass was a head gasket blowing 12.34@102. The gasket let go about the 1000' make with a lot of "smoke" coming out of the engine compartment. At least from my view from the starting line that's what it looked like.
Turns out that the top radiator hose blew off and soaked the motor. "No big deal", I thought, "just hook the hose back on and refill the rad." Well then I started thinking....."why did the hose blow off?" Then I had Kelly start the motor. Sure enough water was coming out between the head and block right behind #6 cyl. and steam was coming out of the rad. in a rythmic pattern. The gasket was blown between #6 cyl. and the water jacket at the rear of the motor.
The reason for the blown head gasket was the greedy crew chief! :D I increased the timing by 3* total. This increased the boost because of the increase in cylinder pressure. So now during that pass Kelly said that it registered 18lbs. of boost! She also noted some pinging then the gasket let go!
No problem though. We just happened to have an extra gasket along with us! So we tore it down and had it back up and running in less than 2hrs.
Kelly then made two more runs that day. The first was a "detuned" 12.81@104 at only 12lbs. of boost. Then we turned up boost to the 15-16lbs. level and she did a 12.31@109. Not bad for having the motor apart an hour earlier! :shock:
Sorry for the long post! Just though you'd like to know that the Inline six can handle some abuse! BTW the cast pistons looked great!
Also if we correct this 12.31 to sea level.....it's a 11.85@114. SIR in Tucson is at 3075'.
Later,
Will
 
Wow...
Wish my turbo project came with a "crew-chief" like you who could tear it down, fix it, and then have it running low 12's in less than 2 hours. PLEASE keep us informed as the season goes on, Kelly's Falcon is a thing of beauty!
Matt
 
66Sprint6":ks3ib69k said:
Wow...
Wish my turbo project came with a "crew-chief" like you who could tear it down, fix it, and then have it running low 12's in less than 2 hours. PLEASE keep us informed as the season goes on, Kelly's Falcon is a thing of beauty!
Matt

Nepe Mine would have to have it done at most an hour and a half...lol Good job! You guys are such an insiration... but dont get too greedy..... Tommy
 
Hey Will! WOW!!!! It's always good when it's the gasket that let's go before anything else....
Did you check the plugs, was the elctrode still there? With N2O if you get greedy the electrode will burn off... :shock:
Also, have you considered using Permatex Copper Spray sealer?
From what I've heard it really does a great jod on blown and nitroused cars ;)

Later,

Alex
 
Will,
Out of curiosity, are you using stocker, run of the mill head gaskets? Is the block "o-ringed"?
D
 
I've heard no o-rings there, just the stock composite head gasket!

They have a fire ring on them, does that count?

My crossflow blew a head gasket between 5 and 6, but the rusted out water jacket caused cylinder six to over fill.

The little Ford sixes have very little margin for error there.

The great thing is that the block and iron head is dimensionally stable. There used to be an Isky O ring kit which butts up against the stock head gasket. You use a simple tool to score the block, and place an underszed wire in it to ensure the fire ring is fully engaged to the head. This works very well, and its better than dry decking the head because there is an expansive point load with easy replacement.

Next time it blows, use the O ring mandrel and o-ring the block, then use the fine gage wire. And some of those ARP studs Alex looked at using.

With the expertise you have there, Will and Kelly, you should be able to run the cast pistons into the low 11's if you keep the revs down to 4800 rpm, gear it up, and and run 16 psi.

Amazing how well that little 350 atomises fuel, I'd have sworn pistons number 5 and 2 would have been the first to say good night!

If you don't mind adding six brass 15 thou water injection nozzles over each of the six inlet tracts, you can use a water/methanol mix. Since No 1 runs cool, you can add more water/methanol via an 18 to 20 thou jet at No2 and 5, and perhaps 6, the traditionally lean part on a slower vechicle. I'll bet number six on yours gets a lot of fuel with all that acceleration!

If your running 30 degrees advance under load with 12 pounds, I'll bet you can run 32 with 18 pounds, and not have any issues.

I'm very impressed with how you've made the combo so realiable. The intercooler must really work well, and the car is such a treat. I love opening this section just to see what you've been up to!
 
Mandarina,
The plug was fine. We just checked it and stuck it back in. When Kelly pulled it initially it was wet with raditator water!
I'd rather not use the Permatex gasket sealer. It may help a little but when you do blow a gasket it makes it harder to remove and clean the head/block to accept the new gasket.

Tetraruby,
Yup, nothing fancy about the gaskets. Currently they are the Fel-Pro stock replacements.

Xtaxi,
O-ringing is a possibility. But actually I prefer to use the Cometic gaskets. And you can order them in any thickness you want! So I can lower the compression a little bit more.
Your right, that little 350cfm Holley is doing a great job! Up to 18lbs. of boost and hasn't leaked a drop of fuel or really caused any trouble. And the best part is that I've got like $60 into the thing!

I'm very confident that Kelly's Falcon will do an uncorrected 11! I've already found a used set of 3.50 gears that were really cheap. So I'll stick those in soon. Probably this weekend.
I thought about water injection but I'd like to keep it more "standard street ready". Injecting water/methanol is kind of "exotic", and out of the norm for the average Joe out there that wants to turbo or supercharge his or her car. I like simplicity! Remember K.I.S.S!
I am going to do some rear suspension work this summer. I need to reduce the stiffness out back, lower it a bit, and take out some weight.
Also need to get ready for a roll bar! :shock: We'll need one when we get close to 11.50s!
There might not be to many updated racing posts from me during the summer. We're not really "scheduled" to race again until Sept. So we're nut-n-bolting the car during the time off to ensure nothing will fall off and just doing a general checkout. And of course trying to make it faster!!
But we'll definately test it before Sept.
Later,
Will
 
hi, what are you running for fuel?preignition is blowing your head gasket perhaps better fuel will allow you to run a more aggessive set -up.I think fel-pro makes a performamce head gasket for the small six ,i know they make it for the big six.knowing that pre ignition at that power level is trying to lift the head off the block high quality head studs will help keep the head gasket fram blowing
 
Will, I might have you beat on the carb blow-thru setup...@$30.00 total, and that's about all I'll be able to beat you in. Later.

Kirk '73 bronco
 
Will,
I take that back, you still got me. I just spent about $75.00 on carb parts needle, jets assortments, gaskets, etc... You're still leading the pack.

Kirk ' 73 bronco
 
Kirk,
Maybe for carburation.....but we just spent big coin on a totally new rearend! :shock:
But it'll be faster, lighter, and WAY cooler!
You should see the new rims! Bitchin'!
Will
 
You should see the new rims! Bitchin'!


postpics.gif


Alex :mrgreen:
 
Sorry guys! I don't have any pics yet. In fact the rims aren't even installed. The tires are mounted though. Maybe I'll get some pics this weekend.
The rims are American Racing Polished Salt Flat Specials.

It's going to be a busy weekend working on Kelly's car!

Later,
Will
 
Well it's a long story....
But to cut to the chase; to get the new rims/tires to fit we're having to do some modifications. Nothing major mind you. No tubs! The body will remain untouched. However the rear suspension is going to be totally replaced. I never liked the leaf springs we had on this car anyway! It rode worse than an old truck!
So we're narrowing the 9" and adding ladder bars and coilovers. Again we're NOT backhalfing the car. Just changing the suspension. The wheelwells will remain stock. This also gives up the opportunity to bring the wheels inboard a little so we can lower the car a little and not have the tires rub the outer wheelwell.
The rims are 15x8s with 235/60-15 Mickey Thompson drag radials. Same size as before. The removal of the leaf springs was required because the 8" wide rim hit the spring. It also was going to rub the outer fender. Damn Ford for such a small wheelwell! :devilish:
The center section will be replaced with an all aluminum Strange setup with a spool and 3.50 gears. All in all we're probably going to save around 50lbs. of weight.
We just received the ladder bars today. The new housing and axles will be here next week. So we'll be thrashing on the car to get it back on the road before Aug 19th for a TnT night. Monster Garage here we come!
As a history lesson the old rearend was also a 9", spool, 3.89 gears, 5 leaf springs, 15x7 rims. No the old rearend is not for sale. It's going to go into my '64 Falcon! :D
All of the funding for this will be coming out of Kelly's Christmas Wish List........for the next 3 yrs. :D
Later,
Will
 
Cast pistons. Theres a weak link. Hate to eventually hear that motor get demolished because of those, especially with 106 octane, 16 PSI, and...are you spraying? Youre talking HIGH (raised) compression ratios, raised by all those factors.

If it was me (I know thats heard a million times every day), Id swap some forged or forged low compression aluminum pistons in, just to be VERY assured that your results will be good, without a blowup.

Ive blown forged pistons (on a seperate car) with the timing correct to spec, 16 psi, no spray, and 93 octane.

Also, with the pistons being cast, I WOULD NOT mess with the spec timing, andy knock or ping from advancing can blow a hole right through it instantly at those compression levels.

Still, extremely impressive. Nice HG swap in record time!
 
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