Having some serious trouble wth my head gaskets. Need Opinions

90lxcoupe · Jul 3, 2005

ok so heres the story i bolted a paxton novi 2000 blower onto my car, and about a month ago i brought it down to J&M motorsports in connecticut sor dyno tuning, on the first power run it made 420 HP and 398 ft/lbs of torque and blew a head gasket in the process.

i tore the car down and found out that my block was missing a couple of o-rings and thats why it blew the gasket. i re o-ringed the block and put some stainless steel rings in the grooves(had copper before)and put everything back together.

i had the car towed down to J&M last thursday to have it retuned and they went through and got the base tune done and made one power run and this time it made 480 HP and 440 ft/lbs. of torque. the car blew a gasket on the opposite side of the motor this time and J&M told me this time its wasnt ass violent as the last time and he said it only smokes when the motor is warm.

anyone have any suggestions on what i should do to fix this problem, i think its the block that is not flat and this is why i am having so much trouble. if it help the blower is making around 9-10 lbs of boost and the timing is set a 10* BTDC and in the computer it is set a 22*

04sleeper · Jul 3, 2005

Sounds like gaskets are costing you some money.
Might be worth looking into getting the block decked and trying some Cometic head gaskets. At least they are reuseable.

Good Luck.

90lxcoupe · Jul 4, 2005

89sleeper said:
Sounds like gaskets are costing you some money.
Might be worth looking into getting the block decked and trying some Cometic head gaskets. At least they are reuseable.

Good Luck.

the money im spending in head gaskets is not a real issue to me. i dont want to sink money into my stock block because its only gonna crack with the kind of power i am making. i wish i didnt have reciever grooves in the block cause then i could use cometic gaskets

04sleeper · Jul 4, 2005

Well if you think the blockis the problem and you do not want to spend any more money on it, then I would start putting together a new A4 or Dart block with good parts so you can make more power and not worry about breaking.

What are your goals?

90lxcoupe · Jul 5, 2005

89sleeper said:
Well if you think the blockis the problem and you do not want to spend any more money on it, then I would start putting together a new A4 or Dart block with good parts so you can make more power and not worry about breaking.

What are your goals?

my goal from the start was to have a streetable 450 hp, but it looks like i overshot that by alot

The Fox · Jul 5, 2005

Awesome numbers. Can't wait to hear the "working" results. And Yeah If I were you I would go ahead and get the top of the block skimmed flat. There's no chance your heads are warped? Are they aluminum? I don't know how much it is to have some do that for ya, but if it's pricey just go for the new block. I don't know your money situation. I know if it were me I would try to get friends with someone at a machine shop and then try to get it decked real cheap. I can't see it being super expensive. And I'm sure they can't do it with the motor in.

Sorry your having issues with it. Glad your making insane power.

The Fox · Jul 5, 2005

Oh yeah I forgot to say good luck with traction with your close to 500 rwhp and 3.73s. Better invest in LCAs, shocks/struts, and some MTs!

Rick 91GT · Jul 5, 2005

What gasket are you using with the o-ring, a graphite?

I'd measure the deck surface and heads to ensure they are flat, but 19-22 degrees sounds about right as far as timing goes if you are running 1 set colder plugs, gapped down.

Is the gasket blowing towards the intake or towards the exhaust or between cylinders? What cylinders blew was it 3 and 7?

ECU5.0 · Jul 5, 2005

Rick 91GT said:
What gasket are you using with the o-ring, a graphite?

I'd measure the deck surface and heads to ensure they are flat, but 19-22 degrees sounds about right as far as timing goes if you are running 1 set colder plugs, gapped down.

Is the gasket blowing towards the intake or towards the exhaust or between cylinders? What cylinders blew was it 3 and 7?

i have nothing to contribute to this thread....but rick91gt amazes me with what he knows

90lxcoupe · Jul 9, 2005

Rick 91GT said:
What gasket are you using with the o-ring, a graphite?

I'd measure the deck surface and heads to ensure they are flat, but 19-22 degrees sounds about right as far as timing goes if you are running 1 set colder plugs, gapped down.

Is the gasket blowing towards the intake or towards the exhaust or between cylinders? What cylinders blew was it 3 and 7?

the first time there were graphite gaskets now i am using a gasket i got from a local machine shop that is paper i believe and it has a sticky feel to it

the first time the gasket blew it was the passenger side 3rd piston from the rear of the car, which i believe is number 3 and this time it was on the driver side but i dont have the head off yet so im not sure which one it is.

i am also gonna bring the boost down as much as i can and i think that will take care of my problem cause both time the gasket popped when the motor was at around 10lbs. of boost

Having some serious trouble wth my head gaskets. Need Opinions

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