87 na-t

[Numba1Stuna]

Damn, should have just removed the thermostat to give continual flow. Do the above mentioned, and if no bhg, tow or remove the thermostat! Quit trying to warp your head and crack the block! Keep us posted.

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[thenderson2011]

pull the plugs and check for coolant. water/coolant is a non-compressable liquid. it also doesn't burn off very well if there's a lot of it. I didn't see you specify what type of head gasket you have on there.

I'll check there, I've got the thermostat off and going to get a gasket for the water neck.

Damn, should have just removed the thermostat to give continual flow. Do the above mentioned, and if no bhg, tow or remove the thermostat! Quit trying to warp your head and crack the block! Keep us posted.

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Yeah, I wish I would have. I got the car back to my house, and am changing the thermostat. I read that I can just put it in backwards and it'll use the water pressure from the block and open it up? Should I do that, or run with no thermostat?

 

[Numba1Stuna]

No thermostat was just a temporary fix to keep from overheating and get it home. If you've got the thermostat, go ahead and put it in.

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[thenderson2011]

Ok, should I put it in normal or backwards?

 

[Numba1Stuna]

I would say normal unless there is another opinion.

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[thenderson2011]

Well, at the moment it doesn't matter anymore. Went to check for coolant and the sparkplug snapped off in the block. just my luck. tryin to find a shop that can get it out without removing the head, if not, I'm going to have to take the head off or take it to a shop. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, honestly.

 

[Numba1Stuna]

Might as well take the head off yourself, do a new head gasket while you're at it.

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[thenderson2011]

I'm just a little worried about doing it myself, I don't have a whole lot of experience as far as that goes, and I'm afraid I'm going to do something wrong like the timing gears, since the guy I thought could do it messed it up and he's got a whole hell of a lot more experience workin on cars than I do.

 

[supraguy@aol]

What the hell just happened in this thread? There's all kinds of wrong going on here.
First off- What got done by your friend- a head replacement? Doesn't sound like the coolant system was completely burped, but who knows.
It could have been a bad t-stat, a bad/ warped head, an improper torque job...
Never put a thermostat in backwards. I don't even think it can fit backwards anyway.
Then you broke off a sparkplug?? How does that even happen?

Bottom line, bring it back to your friend, and have him make this right.

 

[thenderson2011]

Yeah, he replaced the head and then I guess put the timing gears on wrong. I honestly don't want him touching my car again, it took him forever to even start on it, and I found a shop who said they should be able to get the spark plug out. I don't know how it happened, it would not budge, then there was a pop and i pulled the socket up and there half a sparkplug.

Okay, I had jus read about some people doing it and wasn't sure. The head wasn't warped, I bought it and had it checked by a shop and it checked out. It could be that the coolant wasn't done right or possibly the torque not being proper, because he told me he wasn't going to use the arp studs because that would make it too hard.

 

[Dub537h]

I agree with the water/coolant in the cylinder bores advice. Not good for running a car haha. Once its all said and done if your coolant passages are clear and t-stat's good, you could try some redline water wetter? I've heard good reviews about it lowering coolant temps by maybe 20 degrees.

My advice is do it right the first time, Pull the head (It's not too bad, just take a pic of EVERY connector you unplug and ALL the bolts you unbolt, trust me ) and get that shit checked. Get a good quality head gasket and run the arp's torqued to 85ft-lbs. It's worth the time/experience/money in the long run...Good luck!

 

[thenderson2011]

So if I were to do the head, would I want to get just a regular hg instead of a metal one so that I don't have to pull the motor to have it machined down? And what about the timing gears and everything? I'm just afraid that I would mess it up and end up having to wait another month or two before I can drive it again. A different guy told me he had a tool at the shop he works at that he's going to get me, said it's designed to remove broken spark plugs and should be able to get it out. If I can do that, I think I'm just going to replace all the plugs and make sure there's no coolant in there. If not, then I'd be taking the head off, and having a machinist get the plug out?

 

[Numba1Stuna]

Depends on the head gasket you want to use. You should use a good quality metal head gasket, but that requires the block decked and the head milled to a mirror like finish. If you are going the cheap and inevitable failure/temporary fix method, get paper or graphite gasket. My machine work ran about $180 fyi.

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[supraguy@aol]

... he told me he wasn't going to use the arp studs because that would make it too hard.

That would make it too hard???
How?
So...he re-used the unreuseable oem headbolts?
Torque with oem bolts should be ~72ft-lbs.

 

[supraguy@aol]

PS- Using a composite head gasket is not an inevitable failure/ fix issue. As long as the head and block surfaces are undamaged, a composite gasket will last for a LONG time.
Headbolt torque has to be correct, though.

 

[thenderson2011]

Depends on the head gasket you want to use. You should use a good quality metal head gasket, but that requires the block decked and the head milled to a mirror like finish. If you are going the cheap and inevitable failure/temporary fix method, get paper or graphite gasket. My machine work ran about $180 fyi.

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Well if I had the tools/knowledge to remove the block then I would. I do not, however.

That would make it too hard???
How?
So...he re-used the unreuseable oem headbolts?
Torque with oem bolts should be ~72ft-lbs.

I think he got new oem bolts, and I told him to torque them to that, but I dont' know if he listened or not.

PS- Using a composite head gasket is not an inevitable failure/ fix issue. As long as the head and block surfaces are undamaged, a composite gasket will last for a LONG time.
Headbolt torque has to be correct, though.

Okay good to know. I don't plan on pushing a ton of horsepower, it'll be stock until next summer.

 

[supraguy@aol]

I did 12-15 psi on a stock hg with ARP's for 2 yrs, no problems.
But what was so hard about using arp's?? You put the head on, put the washers down, then drop the arp's in.
Not a whole lot different than oem bolts.

 

[thenderson2011]

Whooo! the plug came out, still had some bolt on it, I just didn't see it the first time I looked. But it's out, so I've replaced the thermostat and am going to get a new plug to put in. What size do I need? Should I get all 6 since I've got to do it anyways?

 

[thenderson2011]

I did 12-15 psi on a stock hg with ARP's for 2 yrs, no problems.
But what was so hard about using arp's?? You put the head on, put the washers down, then drop the arp's in.
Not a whole lot different than oem bolts.

I don't know, I didn't know what all it took, that's just what he told me.

 

[Numba1Stuna]

Probably just lazy... There really isn't a difference...

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