Who wants to be a technician from these pictures ?!?!?

[FESTER665]

Well, seems like im the only one starting threads in the tech section so I figure Ill keep going with my useless posts.....

As you know from most of my other posts, I pulled the motor on my Cobra because it was leaking oil from all over the place, and the other issue was anytime I really got on it I would smell coolant. It was overheating whenever I would drive on the expressway for an extended amount of time, so I bought a new radiator and electric fan to see if that would help. It seemed to help, but still never completely got rid of the problem. Well Im wondering now if I didnt have a larger problem looking at my heads and pistons and thought I would ask for your opinions.....

Heres the passenger side pistons....

Heres the passenger side head....

Heres the drivers side pistons:

Finally the drivers side head:

The piston and the combustion chanber closest to the master cylinder is a TON cleaner than any of the other pistons.... Maybe I had a head gasket issue and it was cleaning the piston and head ?!?!? The gasket doesnt appear to be blown through anywhere really, just wondering if there might have been something going on there... What do you guys think ????

Also, Does the buildup and junk in the chambers and on the pistons look normal or was the problems that anyone can tell ???

It has 66K on the block, probably 20K or so on the TFS TW heads, Im running 3924 autolite plugs, and always use 93 octane at the minimum....

Let me know if you have any other questions or suggestions....:alcoholic

Click to read more...

 

[Bigturbonotch]

looks to me like the pass. side had a minor head gasket leak.

 

[FESTER665]

What about all the nasty buildup on the pistons and the combustion chambers ??? Anything out of the norm there ??? Im wondering if I just didnt have enough fuel for the car now as well....

24# injectors and the stock pump.... No tune either...

 

[Dana]

Is it possible that coolant was being introduced into the intake somewhere? I'm not very familiar with this motor, but the "damage" seems to be pretty evenly distributed throughout all 8 cylinders except for number 8.
Was it this motor that had coolant flowing around the throtle body?

What did the intake gaskets look like? Were they fully sealed?

 

[sshocker96]

I'm def no expert, but my heads & block looked similar, no problems there. Box 1 may be on to something. After my first rebuild, blew a HG (Not enough fuel, possible installer error). I was amazed at how small the hole had to be for a failure. Also, someone told me that coolant can go over/under the gasket without a complete blowout. I too was having the same issues before complete failure. I would overheat intermittently, especially under heavy acceleration & eventually it got worse, so good thing you caught it early.

Other things could be torque ratings & sequence. When I replaced the HG the 2nd time, ARP had released new torque specs. Followed the correct sequence, used better gaskets, made sure my t-rex was working & no problems since. Oh, I have no tune now either, I still run a FMU with 24#.

As far as the difference between the cylinders, I was told not to worry too much. Guys over at the Corral said that our intakes dont evenly distribute air, so that could be a reason for the difference in appearance.

Hope that gives some insight. Looks like you're making good progress & are asking the right questions.

 

[FESTER665]

Intake gaskets all looked okay. No coolant flowing through the upper intake, just the lower.

I was using ARP bolts on the engine previously, Im going to be adding studs to the block this time since its apart, and im hoping to throw a little boost (8-10 pounds) at it coming in the spring.

Whats the best way to clean all the gunk off the tops of the pistons ??? Im hoping to not pull the pistons out of the motor unless I see something I dont like when I frop the oil pan....

 

[batman]

carb cleaner

 

[FESTER665]

Atleast the cylinder walls look decent.... I just gotta get the buildup at the top of the walls taken care of...

 

[Ear Rak]

Atleast the cylinder walls look decent.... I just gotta get the buildup at the top of the walls taken care of...

get a cylinder wall hone for your drill and make some light passes.

 

[sshocker96]

I used carb cleaner & a combination of a flathead screwdriver, a razor blade & a scraper. Be careful when scraping as you can nick/gouge the block/pistons/cylinder walls pretty easily.

Oh, & you can never get them too clean. Also, once you finish everything up, go over it again just before slapping the heads on just in case.

 

[Ear Rak]

And dont forget to thoroughly clean any solvents you used on the cylinder walls off.

 

[FESTER665]

Does anyone on here have a straight edge or something I can use to make sure the block is still flat ??? I dont want to rip it all the way apart to take it to a machine shop if I dont need to....

Unless they can do it with the rotating assembly still in the motor ??? I dont want to buy new bearing and all that unless its completely needed... Trying to stay somewhat "cheap" with this so I can still afford a power adder....

 

[batman]

Does anyone on here have a straight edge or something I can use to make sure the block is still flat ??? I dont want to rip it all the way apart to take it to a machine shop if I dont need to....

Unless they can do it with the rotating assembly still in the motor ??? I dont want to buy new bearing and all that unless its completely needed... Trying to stay somewhat "cheap" with this so I can still afford a power adder....

I wouldnt worry about the block. Just get the head done and put them on...8-9 lbs isnt much

 

[SVTLSC]

do both the block anthe head if it overheated before, it may be fine but the motor is out and the heads are off so mind as well be safe, most shop should have a straight edge. and machine shop can do it with the rotating assembly in