Blown head gasket already!!

[Luderacer14]

Yea, it sucks, I put my 370 cc injectors and turn the boost up a lil, but it was still reading 7 psi. Than I ran it a few more times and started hearing a whistling sound. At first I though it was a boost leak untill I pooped my hood and saw water pouring out the head!! That sucks!! I plan on running a metal head gasket and seriously thinking about rebuilding my engine with eagle rods and je pistons. I checked the labor and its 1400 for everything. I could of gotton it for soo much cheaper in AZ, but shops here in NC suck!! Anyone here know any good sites or got some good advie before I buy my stuff. Running high boost is gonna be awesome. I plan on pushing 15-20psi. btw, the car has 50,000 and the headgasket has been replaced before by previous owner, it was a crappy job cuz there were missing nuts and gasker maker hanging out.

[crzycav86]

Holy crap.. that sucks.

50,000 miles? And it had been replaced before?? Something doesn't sound right. Which nuts were missing?

[XcreatureX]

115k on my s14 and never had a problem with mine

Seth

[TheOne]

i'd rebuild it.sounds like the previous owner beat the **** out of it, and didn't know how to fix it.

[virus77]

Im surprised the motor didnt blow the first day, as I recall you were boosting on stock injectors. Take a step back and do this right, or your gonna toast the second motor aswell.

[Luderacer14]

I think I'm just gonna run a metal headgasket now, I did some research and it's a little over my budget right now. Plus I need the money to start on my suspension work, trying to drift in a nonlsd stock supension car blows. Stopping blows too. Clutch is giving out, it chutters and I need to upgrade. I was happy with 7 psi. Now I need to balance out everything else.

[nissanfanatic]

Its not a headgasket strength issue. Its a tuning issue. Confirm AF ratios and timing. Then consider the mating surfaces of the head and block. I guarantee you are running stock heat range plugs or running lean or running too low of an octane of fuel which is causing pre-ignition. Your raising cylinder pressure beyond the knock limit somehow and you just got lucky enough for the headgasket to go instead of a piston. I run a 135k stock headgasket and IIRC, klattr1 was running a stock headgasket on his car. It holds boost. Good luck getting it fixed though. I hope everything turns out well for you.

When you replace the headgasket, get a FSM. There are missing head bolts? But if you remove or install the head incorrectly, it will warp.

[Turbogixxer]

Its not a headgasket strength issue. Its a tuning issue. Confirm AF ratios and timing.

Hit it right on the head. You need to think about timing/fuel before you turn up the boost and/or boost your car. High cyl. pressure, knock, pre-igntion will kill your motor.

you just got lucky enough for the headgasket to go instead of a piston.

Yep, get your car tuned when you fix it.

[Structure240sx]

i have run up to 20psi on my stock head gasket and studs. i just replaced them with arp studs and cometic gasket but now i dont really know if it really was lifting.

17psi i did for a while with no problems on it. there is no turbo that would make the head lift at 7psi unless you had the turbo on a trailer behind the car with the 6 bottles of nitrous you would need to spool it

[nissanfanatic]

[quote=""Structure240sx""] there is no turbo that would make the head lift at 7psi unless you had the turbo on a trailer behind the car with the 6 bottles of nitrous you would need to spool it[/quote]lol.

[Jookmasta]

ur tuning is what caused the headgasket to blow. gotta get ur AFRs right and be thankful that it wasnt something else that went. As for building a motor, if 1400 is the cost, u might as well go for the boost designs engine for 2000. (shameless plug) if u have 1400 to spend, 600 extra just means patience on ur part. But since u said u dont have the cheese, spend the two or three hundred on getting it properly tuned or investing in a wideband............

[Luderacer14]

Yea, i was thinking about getting a wideband too. It's weird, it happened right after I put my 370cc in and upped the boost.Weird thing was, I keeped on turning the boost up to lean it out a bit, but it still read 7. I'm just gonna go ahead and spend money on a widebad . I was trying to tune it with the a/f meter, lol. The 60$ POS. Realisticly, a stock block can handle 12psi right. Because thats what I want. I'll be sure to get my timing retarded, and wideband to tune it when my car is fixed.

[nissanfanatic]

Don't try to tune with narrowband. It won't even display where you need to be. Mine reads the right on the yellow above green at idle and I'm idling at like 12.5afr. And it goes to green from 14.0 on. I run a 12.2-12.5ARF in boost. The narrowband doesn't move after about 5" HG. It stays at the second or third green down while my AFR goes down.

Maybe you have a faulty boost gauge? What are you using to control the injectors? Why do you think you needed to lean them out? I would never use boost to adjust the AF mixture. Tuning fuel doesn't mean add more air, it means take fuel out or add fuel. You decide what level of boost you want to run and then add or subtract the appropriate amount of fuel. You leaned out too far and popped it. After you get the headgasket fixed, I would recommend a compression test or a leak-down test.

No timing adjustment is needed until 8psi.

AS for building a block, just swap in pistons and replace all bearings, maybe check out the oil pump, and possibly a timing chain kit. That should keep you from spending all your money. You will still have to spend some for machining so don't think its that cut and dry.

[Jookmasta]

definitely never tune with a narrowband EVER! unless its given input from a wideband, lol. anyways, u dont up the boost to lean out. u must use a SAFC, emanage, hacked maf, or ecu retune to adjust for larger injectors. there is no way around it. as for running 12 psi on a stock block, it can be done. structure is the proof as is many others. i personally have done one bar on it and it held up for two runs. this was obviously by accident but i was somewhat tuned. tuning is the key to power and tuning is the key to ur engine's longevity. and what nissanfanatic said is right..............

[nissanfanatic]

Best proof of stock block capability is orion. He's making 298whp on a 114k engine. And he does a lot of autox. Which reminds me I need to go watch some autoX and talk to orion a little bit. I'll be proof here pretty soon as well.

[turtl631]

White bunny on freshalloy ran 1 bar for like 4.5 years and 60,000 miles on a stock block until revving to 7800 killed a bearing. With good tuning lots is possible on stock block