Blown Headgasket Blues- The project begins

[89niner]

Recently blew the head gasket in my 89 MA70 5-speed N/A. This is the beginning of my build thread, my goal for now is to fully refresh the entire vehicle. Vehicle has 237,000 miles, engine was rebuilt at 220,000, when the previous owner rebuilt the engine they used the factory head bolts and only torqued them to 58 ft. lbs. Before the head gasket blew I had replaced the radiator with a new but used that was given to me by SupraCorwin (thanks again dudebro) and serviced the rack and pinion. For the head gasket repair I purchased ARP head bolts, Fel-pro head gasket, Fel-pro exhaust manifold gasket, DNJ valve cover gaskets with the rubber grommets, NGK R spark plugs, OEM cap & rotor, Autolite plug wires, 5 quarts of oil, and a WIX 51348 oil filter. The head bolts were purchased from SUMMITRACING.COM, Gaskets & plugs wires from ROCKAUTO.COM, plugs from local auto parts store, oil and filter from good ol' wal-mart. At the moment I am more than half way through with the repair, I have yet to finish connecting the wiring harness & vacuum lines and install valve covers, spark plug wires, upper intake manifold/plenum/TB. I also checked the head and block for warping both were fine and am trying to do the repair as cost/time effective as possible.

I have more pics but for some reason site won't let me attach them.

 

[spooln30]

So your going to be using a OEM type HG? Just POP the extra cash and get a MHG from Titan Motorsports. Worth every penny in the long run. Also then you can TQ the head down to 80-85 ft lbs. In three steps of course.

 

[northdakotakid]

You need to tear the engine down and get the block machined if going the MHG route. It sounds like he is staying relatively stock, so OEM HG with proper torque and a checked/machined head will do perfectly fine.

 

[hvyman]

And it's na. Oem style should be plenty.

Gl.

 

[89niner]

Sorry for not posting after the HG job was done work has been crazy lately, i still have pics to upload also. Finished the repair and have put 1500 (+ oil change) miles on the car since, shes once again purring like a kitten, cleared all codes except for the new one lol, when i was pulling the wiring harness the plug for my KS broke off! I was going to buy the $60.00 dollar KS off rockauto.com but after a heated discussion with my local junkyard operator apparently those cheap sensors are garbage so i opted for a slightly used KS of a totalled 89 from the junkyard which shall be in my possesion this saturday. I'm excited to drive it with no CEL!!!!!! oh and yeah for my application the fel-pro head gasket works just fine, no boost, all factory, its my daily driver and she gets 27+ mpg depended on my mood lol but i want this car exactly how it came off the showroom floor before i start customizing and adding horsepower, i mean don't get me wrong I'm all for 1000+ rwhp but its gotta look good first. Thanks for checking out my post! and i'll try as hard as i can to have monthly updates (or sooner).

oh and btw i was wondering if the heater is controlled by the ecu? The reason I ask is because when i installed my new water temp sending unit for the ecu the heater defrosted my windsheild twice as fast as it normally would, any input would be awesome thanks

 

[89niner]

cleaning process, will have more pics up tonight after i install new KS and a few other goodies

 

[Avicii]

nicely done! i have a 87 n/a and i am waiting for the head gasket to go lol 200,000+ miles on it but it was 500 bucks well spent.

 

[89niner]

nicely done! i have a 87 n/a and i am waiting for the head gasket to go lol 200,000+ miles on it but it was 500 bucks well spent.

will you be keeping it n/a?


pics posted are of finished head gasket repair

 

[89niner]

Missing trim piece, gas cap door fix, new shift knob and black suede/blue stitched shift boot, new center console arm rest (soon to be painted, with special vinyl paint)

 

[89niner]

custom cold air intake lol (yes thats HVAC ducting tape on cardboard) and it may look ugly but i swear the car gets 3-4 mpg more than stock setup. EAT YOUR HEART OUT TOYOTA PRIUS!!!!!!!!!