North American Turbocoupe Organization



Head Gasket
Gregg Offline
Senior Member
#1
So my car overheated last night, because the thermostat and/or water pump went last night. Both were high mileage, so I changed both of them today.
I was flushing the coolant system, and what happens, lots of smoke from the exhaust, and bubbling in the coolant tank....so yes my head gasket is shot. I only hope that the head didn't crack from the heat, but won't know till the machine shop tells me.

At any rate, I've searched the archives for information about changing the head gasket but I was wondering if anyone can give me a list of parts I need to do this.

So far I've got:
Head Bolts
Head Gasket
Valve Cover Gasket (Not sure if I need to replace this or not)
Coolant System Hoses

and that's about all I got. Feel free to add to the list. I know I may need new valve springs and seals, but I don't know, and don't want to make that kind of list until I get the head back from the shop.

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1987 TC 5 Speed
K&N Cone mounted on the VAM,Ric Gillis Valve
Gregg
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B_Lieder Offline
Senior Member
#2
Seems like you have all the basics on the list. After the head goes to the machine shop you'll then have a list of unkowns. The machine shop can do the valve springs, seals, ect. ect. They should fill you in on the details after they run a fine comb through it.

As for the valve cover gasket. You should replace it if its the cork kind. If you have a new rubber one then it can be re-used.


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Bill Lieder
1988 TC
MODS: Ported big valve head with ss valves, ported upper & lower intakes, Racer Walsh #2 Roller cam, Walboro 255HP pump, Kirban adjustable FPR, 3" Exhaust, Star stage 2 clutch w/ stage 3 pp, K&N cone, Gillis valve, Race engineering adjustable cam sproket, 245 50 16 Bridgestone tires
Bill L
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Gregg Offline
Senior Member
#3
Quote:Originally posted by B_Lieder:
Seems like you have all the basics on the list. After the head goes to the machine shop you'll then have a list of unkowns. The machine shop can do the valve springs, seals, ect. ect. They should fill you in on the details after they run a fine comb through it.

As for the valve cover gasket. You should replace it if its the cork kind. If you have a new rubber one then it can be re-used.

Thanks for the help. Can I do the valve springs and seals myself, or should I just let them do it? How will I know if I have to get new ones or not?

I'm slightly limited with cash, so I would like to do everytime I can myself, that and I don't trust any of the shops around here.
Gregg
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B_Lieder Offline
Senior Member
#4
Pete D can fill you in on the seals (what to look for ect). He took care of that when he did the porting work for me.

You can change the valve springs yourself. You will need to either get a valve spring compressor or make one from the tech articles. Also, the ""universal valve spring compressor"" Auto-parts stores sell don;t work on our cylinder heads (or atleast all the ones i have seen). The one in the tech articles is nice but if i remember correctly it doesn;t work with lower intake manifold still connected. Just replace the springs before you put the head back on the car.

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Bill Lieder
1988 TC
MODS: Ported big valve head with ss valves, ported upper & lower intakes, Racer Walsh #2 Roller cam, Walboro 255HP pump, Kirban adjustable FPR, 3" Exhaust, Star stage 2 clutch w/ stage 3 pp, K&N cone, Gillis valve, Race engineering adjustable cam sproket, 245 50 16 Bridgestone tires
Bill L
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Pete D Offline
Administrator
#5
If this is the first or second time the head has been off, you can save some money and reuse the old head bolts. You need to throughly clean the threades and the holes/threads in the block.

How many miles on the head? If you got a spring compressor you can do a lot of the work yourself. like disassembly and reassembly. You can even make one, there is a "how to" in the Technical Articles.
It has to come apart to be proberly checked for cracks. At that point you might as well replace the valve seals anyhow as they are cheap ($8-12) Stock replacement spring run around $35 at NAPA. You will have to check the cam and followers for wear. Keep the parts seperated by cylinder and keep all parts from each valve together.

See what the shop says and let us know.
Pete Dunham


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Gregg Offline
Senior Member
#6
As far as I know, this will be the first time the head has been off. Was going to get new heads bolts just to be sure, becasue I Don't know if the previous owner took the head off or not. The car has about 245k on the clock, and I believe the engine has about 150k or so, if I remember correctly, the previous owner had swapped in a different engine than stock. Ok, will get new valve seals, and at that point should I just get new springs too, or just keep the ones that are there?

Thanks for tip about grouping everything.
Quote:Originally posted by Pete D:
If this is the first or second time the head has been off, you can save some money and reuse the old head bolts. You need to throughly clean the threades and the holes/threads in the block.

How many miles on the head? If you got a spring compressor you can do a lot of the work yourself. like disassembly and reassembly. You can even make one, there is a "how to" in the Technical Articles.
It has to come apart to be proberly checked for cracks. At that point you might as well replace the valve seals anyhow as they are cheap ($8-12) Stock replacement spring run around $35 at NAPA. You will have to check the cam and followers for wear. Keep the parts seperated by cylinder and keep all parts from each valve together.

See what the shop says and let us know.

Gregg
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