Blown head gasket : (

[V8srfun]

Took the MT out today to tune the new carb in and it was running like a champ. I was getting it dialed in right where I like it. When tuning my carbs I run them pretty fat. I basically run it until it starts to gargle from to much fuel then back it off a hair. I know I am leaving power on the table but I like to keep the engine cooler with the rich fuel and oil mixture.

After putting the body on and running the engine in all different conditions to see if the carb needed any further adjustment I noticed it was starting to fall flat down low and then I was getting a high idle. After taking the body off to inspect I noticed the exhaust was slightly loose and tightened it but that obviously did not change anything with the running matter of fact once it cooled off it did not want to start. Then after some persistence I got it started and noticed that it was blowing compression out of the head gasket.

Kind of a sad end to a good run but it is all part of the hobby. Time to order a gasket and enjoy working on the truck for a couple hours.

 

[V8srfun]

So when taking it apart I found the cause of the gasket failure was loose head bolts. The only bolts on the truck I never touched lol. For whatever reason I always assumed that the head bolts would be right from factory but I was wrong they were not very tight at all. I am thinking about making a way to stud the head so I can put a jam nut on it to prevent this from happening in the future.

 

[Phill]

Tighten the bolts to 80 inch pounds.
That should stop em coming loose.

 

[V8srfun]

Tighten the bolts to 80 inch pounds.
That should stop em coming loose.

Thanks i was just about to look the torque spec up.

 

[Phill]

Thanks i was just about to look the torque spec up.

The chart says 60 but OBR recommend 80.