DO I HAVE A BLOWN HEAD GASKET?

D.Hearne said:

I guess you've never run across Trans-Dapt's and other's 2 bbl to 4 bbl carb adapters. I have one in my shop and saw another saturday when I checked out a Mustang II for sale. The seller put a Holley 4 bbl carb on the Stang II's 2.8 V6 using one. More than likely, the car needed a new carb and when they was the price for the O.E. 2 bbl, this was a cheaper solution.

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88dragtop said:

If it were me I wouldn't run the motor any more until you could do a leak down or compression test to narrow the problem. Running it with the milkshake can toast your bearings quick. It could be HG, intake gasket, or maybe even the dreaded crack Doing some of these diagnostic checks will help narrow it down otherwise it's just internet guess work. If you don't have access to compression testers try pulling the plugs and look for odd colored plugs, usually look all white from antifreeze.

Also,
don't use felpro 1250, it doesn't fit the 289 heads front water port well, atleast not mine. Not sure on the HG's but I'm pretty sure the old heads have a hole in the middle of each cylinder bore that the newer motors don't.

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jcode68 said:

I'm confused by the statement above. If you recently went from 2bbl to 4bbl, they the shop would have to replace the intake manifold. How much did they charge you for time on the work order? If it was just a carb swap, it should be no more than 1 hour.

As far as swapping the head gaskets yourself, you should be aware of what you are about to get into. I'm not trying to talk you out of this, but you should get a reality check. Doing the swap involves removing the distributor, intake manifold, rocker arms & push rods, the exhaust manifold and then finally the head. While taking it apart is fairly simple (assuming you don't run into a rusty head bolt and break one) the reassembly requires some knowledge. For example, you will need to adjust the rocker arms for the proper lash. If you get this wrong, the engine will not perform properly, develop a ticking noise or could bend a rod. The only other difficulties are proper gasket/sealing on intake and setting the timing. Again, I don't want to talk you out of this, but given your experience level, you would be far better off getting someone who knows the drill to work with you on this so you can learn without the expense and headache of potentially causing new problems.

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351carlo said:

Definitely head gasket or cracked block. Seeing as the motor is not quite an all out racer, I'd go with the former.

As already stated it won't cost you much at all to do it yourself and the job IS very easy on a small block. I think 5-6 hours wouldn't be reasonable for a shop to charge, depending on how much stuff you have on top of your motor.

Personally I could probably have the job done in under two hours. Find a decent classic car shop. Don't drive the car there. Don't drive the car at all. Don't start the motor.

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