need help with head question?

alvarop

New Member
Jun 25, 2006
38
0
0
Canada Thunder bay
I just installed a used set of heads canfield 20 450 58, with fel pro 1011-2 head gaskets . The block is a A-4 331 stroker O-ringed. I torqued the heads it 3 steps 25-50-80. 80# on top bolts and 70 # on bottom bolts. After I got everything back together when I started puring water in the rad i noticed coolant leaking between the head gasket and head. It wasnt just a leak it was puring out , looked like one spot but it was kinda hard to tell.

the block is o-ringed but the head is not. I'm also using APR head studs

Did I not torque enough or is my head wrapped ? I wanted to post this question before i rip it apart again.
 
well i would assume thats why bc the headgasket wouldnt seal if your running a normal gasket ateast thats what i have been told, call summits techline they can tell u im allmost a 100% sure u have to have a oring headgasket and heads
 
so what do i do? where do i go from here?

You can start by pulling the heads off, then go get them o-ringed, and then get some gaskets for O-ring heads. Or you can pull the engine, get a new block that is not o-ringed, swap all your internals, and get normal head gaskets.
 
I pulled the heads off too night for the second time in a month..lol. I'm gonna go bring them in to get O-ringed and get the proper gaskets.

A few weeks ago on another web site I asked if I needed O-ringed heads with O-ringed block people said NO! . I also called fel pro tech line last week before I bought those head gaskets and I explained what I had ,they recommended 1011-2 gaskets . Now im sitting here really confused.

but from what everyone is saying on here maybe the heads should of been O-ringed.

Does anyone know what head gaskets I should have used?

anyone else have an opinion?

I'll post what the machine shop says .

Thanks
 
Fel-pro's tech line said it was ok? Call them again and tell them what happened and see if they can explain it. Are you sure you put the head gaskets on right? There is a front and back to them.
 
here is what i have found out. my head were a little wrapped had them check now they are all good.

Now the reason I was leaking coolant was because 1011-2 gaskets will not work with a A-4 block, after inspecting the deck and gasket i noticed two coolant holes on the deck that the gasket barely covered.So im guessing that a 1011-2 fel pro gasket is for a stock block and a A-4 block has thicker walls ,that gasket barely covered the coolant holes along the bottom. Now i know why the coolant was pouring out.

now i need o find the correct gaskets>

Thanks
 
The 1011-2 gasket will work with the A4 block. They will not work with a block that's been o-ringed, however. There will be holes that are completely blocked off by the gasket, some that are restricted, and some left open completely. This is done intentionally to aid with cooling because the coolant will take the path of least resistance and never travel toward the rear of the engine otherwise. The deck itself is physically the same as the standard 302 block, as it needs to be for the heads to be compatible between the two blocks.