ok guys i found some old pictures of my blown head gaskets. iam having hard time figuring out if they were blown due to stock heads lifting or detonation(tune issue).hoping someone will be able to tell by the picture of a problem cylinder #6.

BTW its on stock 302 with single turbo,9333 pt1 head gaskets.thanks everyone!!!

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Looks like lift to me (maybe because of detonation). If you look at the fire ring compared to the inside of the cylinder way, it's the same distance all the way around ( no egg shaping or pushing)

 

Also forgot to mention engine has arp studs as well.
By the looks of it, you can see fire ring is bit oval, but it's still intact.
Btw car did have some detonation due to bad winter gas plus old gas iam assuming. Had to pull timing all the way to 10* locked to get rid of knock. but 3 days after cooling system started to get pressurized.

If it was heads lifting due to detonation,would aftermarket heads fix the issue as long there is no tune issue?

 

Oh, yeah your right. Juuuust to the left of the scorch mark I can see the push now.

A better head will give you a little more cushion in tuning because of better clamping. But aftermarket heads and a tune will make 1000 hp+

 

So the way I understand it.... Stock heads can lift due to bad tune even with head studs and good gaskets, right? but since aftermarket heads have thicker deck, they don't lift and therefore if gaskets can take bit of beating, it will be ok, correct?

 

Slightly more beating. Detonation will kill ANYTHING. Any good part, and any price. the better the part, the more it can take. But far from in destructible. A good tune on stock heads, with ARP studs, you can still lift the heads. Most guys with R7 start to see it around 12-14 psi iirc.

 

ok cool that makes sense.. I was running 12-13 when my issues started on the street. Stock e7's + some detonation didn't help either. looks like iam gonna me notching pistons to make room for aftermaket heads.
For some reason I thought I won't have head lifting issues as long as I got arp studs...fun fun fun!

 

I've got a mock up head and the cutting tool if you want when your ready.

 

iam all the way in vancouver,bc...probably cost more in shipping then the tool itself..lol. i was gonna use stock heads as mock up since vic jrs have same valve location. for the tool i was either gonna make my own or buy isky's if i can find it locally. thanks for the offer man!!

 

Yep, it's the isky tool. But it's only one cyl worth of head so I could move it around on the block without having to reset the tool. I have to cut out a ton of the head to get the tool to recess in the head enough to clear the piston just to set it down on the block. If you do, lemme know.

 

Your at that Iron Head limit... No more than 12 lbs

I was lifting the head at anything 13lbs and over on my GT40p's no matter what HG I used

What are you torquing the heads to?

 

it was torqued to 75/85...i believe.

 

I tried to get my e7's to work. Ran 110, 9 lbs, 16 total timing, everything safe I could think of. Lift every wot!!! Swapped to tw heads and no problems. Even used 8548 hg's!!! Make the switch to aftermarket aluminum heads, well worth it.

 

Only 9 psi ! Sux to be you man, shit. Think that's the lowest I've ever seen.

 

oh wow. were you using aftermarket studs/bolts as well? after wot,did it stay cool as long as you dont get into boost?
i noticed my car would over heat right after first time i go wot.but would come down after few mins. After that it would gradually start to over heat slowly even if i cruise around with no boost. iam assuming once heads lift on wot, they dont re seal ?

 

Yeeeeep. I had it happen one time I didn't even know for a month or two. The car would start to warm up, and it would get almost to 180, shoot to 215-220 or so, then come back down to 180 and be completely fine. thought the T-stat was just starting to stick. Not milkshake. Once I replaced the t-stat and it didn't work, it failed the coolant test. Ran 7.0's like that though.

 

yea i lifted my e7s with 12psi, dropped it down to 8psi and without even changing out the gaskets the car ran fine, no lifting issues. finally went with the twisted wedge heads

 

did you have arp studs or stock head bolts?

 

arps torqued down a bunch as per my tuners request. 85/95