I think that I've blown a head gasket on my IROC, happened in the beginning of the week.

How much of a pain in the a$$ is this to fix, to be more specific, do I need to get the engine out of the car or can it be done with the engine still in the car?

I am not going to be doing this all by myself, some friends who have gone through this before will be helping me...

Any good advice before I begin?

------------------
'89 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7L TPI - Mods Under Contruction :-)
Edelbrock TES Headers, SLP Airfoil, K&N Filters, Relocated MAT
Accel 8mm Wires, Ed Wright Fastchip Stage II/160 stat
Over in the cold country of Sweden!!!
http://www.controlteam.com/~zaphodb/ZaphodB-IROCZ89.jpg

 

you can do it in the car, but you have to tear off the heads. depending on how old the car is(mileage??) you may just want to take it one step further and get new rings too. consult the manual before you dive in. they are very useful and usaully describe the full process. have fun!

 

It's got 69000 miles on the clock, and doesn't seem to burn any oil, so I guess the rings should be okay....

------------------
'89 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7L TPI - Mods Under Contruction :-)
Edelbrock TES Headers, SLP Airfoil, K&N Filters, Relocated MAT
Accel 8mm Wires, Ed Wright Fastchip Stage II/160 stat
Over in the cold country of Sweden!!!
http://www.controlteam.com/~zaphodb/ZaphodB-IROCZ89.jpg

 

btt

 

Haven't yet looked in the manual, but I assume that I have to remove the intake to be able to remove to the heads, or am I wrong?

------------------
'89 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7L TPI - Mods Under Contruction :-)
Edelbrock TES Headers, SLP Airfoil, K&N Filters, Relocated MAT
Accel 8mm Wires, Ed Wright Fastchip Stage II/160 stat
Over in the cold country of Sweden!!!
http://www.controlteam.com/~zaphodb/ZaphodB-IROCZ89.jpg

 

Zap, I dunno if its NECASSARY, but I would think removing the intake stuff would make your job ALOT easier. This is mainly a BTTT too.

 

I think it's necessary, but I am trying to get a picture of what I need to buy to make sure I have all I need for the job. I.e bif I have to remove the intake and TB I need gaskets for those as well...

And if I have to remove the fuel logs and injectors, I probably should replace the o-rings for those as well?

Anyone who's done this before, please tell me what I need to remove and what I need to replace so that I don't miss something important...

------------------
'89 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7L TPI - Mods Under Contruction :-)
Edelbrock TES Headers, SLP Airfoil, K&N Filters, Relocated MAT
Accel 8mm Wires, Ed Wright Fastchip Stage II/160 stat
Over in the cold country of Sweden!!!
http://www.controlteam.com/~zaphodb/ZaphodB-IROCZ89.jpg

 

Zap,

You can do this in the car and as the other fellow suggests you should get a service manual. You will need all of the intake gaskets along with the head gaskets. It would be a good time to get your injectors flow tested and balanced. Don't forget to do the fuel rail gaskets along with the injector "O" rings. How did you determine that it was a Head gasket????


------------------
Hank
87'IROC Z28

 

Because of white smoke coming out of the exhaust and if I open the radiator cap it will start bubbling after about 30-60 sec after firing it up....

Don't know hoow bad it is, but I have removed the spark plugs and they were not wet so there is probably only a small leak, but it needs to be replaced anyway!!!

------------------
'89 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7L TPI - Mods Under Contruction :-)
Edelbrock TES Headers, SLP Airfoil, K&N Filters, Relocated MAT
Accel 8mm Wires, Ed Wright Fastchip Stage II/160 stat
Over in the cold country of Sweden!!!
http://www.controlteam.com/~zaphodb/ZaphodB-IROCZ89.jpg

 

I suggest you pressurize each cylinder to find out which one is leaking (compressed air in the sparkplug hole with the valves closed). You may only have to change one head gasket. The right side is a lot easier than the left. I always use copper spray sealer on head gaskets as a little extra insurance. Expect spend most of a day doing this.

 

Okay..... But isn't it a good idea to do both sides while I am at it since I have to remove the intake to get to the heads anyway?

------------------
'89 Camaro IROC-Z 5.7L TPI - Mods Under Contruction :-)
Edelbrock TES Headers, SLP Airfoil, K&N Filters, Relocated MAT
Accel 8mm Wires, Ed Wright Fastchip Stage II/160 stat
Over in the cold country of Sweden!!!
http://www.controlteam.com/~zaphodb/ZaphodB-IROCZ89.jpg

 

The downsides to doing both sides at once is this. Thats 17 extra long bolts you have to remove. 17 extra holes to run a tap through. 17 extra bolts to torque down (in 3 increments, so 51 extra turns of a wrench) and then 8 more valves to adjust.
If it ain't broke, there's no need to fix it, just because it's available doesn't mean you should unbolt it. Unlessyou have a lot of extra time on your hands.
ed

 

Make sure that you do a compression test before you do anything. It will tell you what's going on down there so you know what you're going after. Big mistake not to check it first. I just got finished putting my engine and TPI system together today. My advice, is to make sure you understand timing completely, roll a piece of tape around every single vacuum line and connection you disconnect, and take very good care of the bolts you take out. It slowed down my whole process by months because I failed to keep a few vacuum lines labeled.

 

you ALWAYS want to replace BOTH head gaskets... if one failed more then likely the other is right around the coner... also if you take off one head you still have to set vavle lash on ALL 16 valves plus when you go to the auto parts store for a head gasket your goign to get both sides anyways. you for have int to remove the TBI unit (only 3 boles to remove the TBI unit) and disconnect the fuel lines. use a pipe wench to remove then so you don't round off the fittings repaing the TBI fuel line is a bitch once you remove the TBI unit remove the coil and Dis. make sure to mark where the rotor is pointing so it will be EZer to put anythign back in ( IMO is better to just put the motor back at TDC when you reinstall the HEI system then reset your timeing. ) one you remove that take off the intake when you remove the intake gaskets be carefule not to get any of the stuff the gasket it made out of in the lifter vally. you won't want to get that to plug up a lifter. one you get the intake off lossen up the rocker arms (you don't have to take them all the way off just till you can turn them and get the push rods out) once the push roads are out you should take off the exhust manifolds from there you can start takeing the hold off for the heads. (make sure you drain the cooling system be fore you start doing ANYTHING) even after you drain the cooling system you still goign to have anti-frezze in the block so its normal to have anti-frezze comeing out the bottom bolt holes when you remove them once all the bolts have been removed you can take off the head (oops forget to tell you to unbolt the front AC compresser smog pump , Alt. PS pump... the water pump can stay on. in the past i found it EZer to just remove the bolt on the mounting braket that bolt into the block should be 2 bolts per side) once you get the head off clean up the block you still goign to have parts of the gasket on the block so you have to remove it beofre installing the new gaskets

reinstalling tips.... get pipe dope with teflone into so it will not harden. you want to put that on all the bolts it will help stop fuild lecking past the bolts

get lots of cardboard under the car becuasre no mater what you do your goignto get fuild all over

when you put that heads back READ the book so you know how to tighten the bolts down so when you do it the gasket will be flat and won't bubble up. also when you TQ down the head iys like 65 foot pounds i belive first tighten it down to 35foot pounds then redo it to 65 foot pounds (read the book to make sure it is 65 foot pounds) once you have everything hooked up and the motor is running let it run for 15min once it get to normal running temp after 15 mins turn the car off and check the head bolts again to make sure that are stil at the right TQ.... don't do it right after you turn the car off wait till it cools down and then do it.... what this will do it once it heats up the metal can expan and back the head bolts off once it cools doen you can tighten them back down and thats it you will only have to do this once.

READ THE BOOK ON HAS TO SET VAVLE LASH!!!

also if you have anti frezze in the oil chage the oil let the car run for 5mins at ilde and chage it again go around the bool 4 ot 5 times and chage it again after then put more oil in and drive it for about a week and then go back to chageing it every 3,000 miles what this will do is clean all the anti frezze out of the oil anf flisters and all that. i only chages my oil 2 times and it took my bearings out and crank (i'm rebuilting my motor now) i will post pics of what my main bearing looked like.


i hope that helps!

 

this si what can happen to your bearings form water being in the oil... after fixing the head gasket the motor race smoth no knocking just nice and smooth i had to idea they where bad till i ripped apart the block

 

if this is on your tuned port car you have to completely remove the tpi setup , then do the head gasket so make sure you get gaskets for the tpi unit, might also be a good time to do a little porting to the tpi while you have it apart, do a search for vaders guide, he even made templates you can cut out if you have a little extra time.