Pulled head, need advice, lots of PICTURES.

[fuforums]

Ok I have finally pulled the head and the gasket is blown just between 1 and 2. I have lots of pictures on my site and I would appreciate some advice on what I should do next.

1. Should I get a 3" flange for the exhaust downpipe for a new exhaust?

2. Where can I get a new coolant tube (the one on the front of the head, I cracked it getting it off, see pictures)

3. Is the gasket supposed to be glued on? I had it done 3 years ago by someone I *thought* did a good job. It was loose and there was no scraping needed and no prying to get the head off. I just lifted it out by myself.

4. What should I do while the head is off so I won't have to fool with this again as far as upgrades or performance? There is tons of room now that the head is gone. Sure takes up a lot of space. (i kept the intake and turbo on the head, see pics)

5. My shifter cable was replaced 3 years ago also by me and I found that it rests on the exhaust and of course the rubber is melted. I don't remember putting it there but there is no other way to run it. Is this correct? (see pics) It wont' tuck anywhere and it comes out of the bracket at the tranny and that points it directly at the exhaust downpipe. It shifts fine but I am wondering if it will hurt it over time. Maybe just wrap it with header tape??

6. Could anyone with experience look at the pics of the head and see if there are any trouble signs with the plugs, valves, coloration, and the block cylinders? This is the first headgasket swap I have done myself so I don't know the telltale signs of problems.

Thanks for the help, guys. Any reccomendations will be considered. The head looks perfectly flat by my straight edge no gaps and the turbo has minimal play and spins fine. Not sure I want to put the money into a new turbo because that will just make me go faster and break more stuff and I got this car running again to "save" money on gas...I don't know if I want more than 18 psi of boost yet... It's pretty fast now. I'm going to change all the vacuum lines and the little things that are obvious but I'm sure I won't think of some things. It was pretty easy gettting all the stuff off and even by myself but getting it all back on is a different story. We'll see.

http://160plus.com/dodge/index.html

Joe
1991 Dodge Shadow ES 2.5 Turbo Intercooled

[fuforums]

Also, check out the body work I did on my fender. I hit a stupid dumpster pulling it out of storage but it fixed up pretty nice.

[Darkwolf]

Well I did all this and then tossed in a whole engine rebuild . I think I spent just under $250 for the maching work on the head and I think its worth atleast doing that while the head is off. Might want to consider blowing an extra $80 on some ARP headstuds too.

[mpgmike]

I would get the head resurfaced anyways even if it appears to be flat. Where you blew the gasket isn't the common spot, so there might be surface porosity that will haunt you later. Second, I believe you have a bad guide in cyl #4. At the very least you should toss in a new set of valve stem seals. Thirdly, it would appear that the coolant was in dire need of a good flush. Raunchy coolant will eat through the gasket and the head as well.

1) 3" swing valve, down pipe & exhaust will certainly wake up your TD
2) junk yard
3) no glue, just lifts off]
4) see above
5) I just looked at my '88 Shelby Z and the cables don't come anywhere near the exhaust. Is it possible you got the wrong one? Got me on that one.
6) judging by the pics you might have even had coolant leaking out the front of the head gasket on cylinders 2 & 3. You REALLY should shave the head. Judging by the indicator, I doubt that head's ever been machined.

ps your pictures take forever to download on a dial-up.

Mike

[fuforums]

Well I did all this and then tossed in a whole engine rebuild . I think I spent just under $250 for the maching work on the head and I think its worth atleast doing that while the head is off. Might want to consider blowing an extra $80 on some ARP headstuds too.

That's pretty sweet what you did. Did you have to take apart the head yourself before you took it to the machine shop? There are tons of machine shops around here but I worry that they don't know jack about turbo Dodges and would ask me why I don't just put a 350 chevy in there and raise the compression on it. I think I will have the head worked over, seems like a good idea and if it improves flow I won't have to ever do it again which is what I am looking for. I like to DRIVE the car, not work on it.

Also, on those valve springs, the ones on the left are much shorter. Did they still work properly and just need less compression to get them into the head or what? there's quite a difference there.

Those pics were nice. Thanks for the tips. I'll post more as I get things done.

Joe

[fuforums]

I would get the head resurfaced anyways even if it appears to be flat. Where you blew the gasket isn't the common spot, so there might be surface porosity that will haunt you later. Second, I believe you have a bad guide in cyl #4. At the very least you should toss in a new set of valve stem seals. Thirdly, it would appear that the coolant was in dire need of a good flush. Raunchy coolant will eat through the gasket and the head as well.

1) 3" swing valve, down pipe & exhaust will certainly wake up your TD
2) junk yard
3) no glue, just lifts off]
4) see above
5) I just looked at my '88 Shelby Z and the cables don't come anywhere near the exhaust. Is it possible you got the wrong one? Got me on that one.
6) judging by the pics you might have even had coolant leaking out the front of the head gasket on cylinders 2 & 3. You REALLY should shave the head. Judging by the indicator, I doubt that head's ever been machined.

ps your pictures take forever to download on a dial-up.

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the answers. I will take the head to the machine shop to get it all done up, might as well do it. I was thinking I should do it but I just needed some confirmation. What makes you think the valve guide is bad? I am trying to learn so I'd like to be able to spot it myself. The head has never been to a shop. I had the gasket replaced one time before and that was the first time it was ever taken apart. This same coolant was the same that was in there from 3 years ago before I put it in storage. I only drove the car a week when I pulled it out so I didn't change the coolant yet. I was getting lots of other stuff done on it like tires and struts and it was on my list of to do but I didn't have the chance. When I got the car it was brown like that, someone probably dumped leak stopper in it at one time but I don't know if there were any leaks, I have never found any at all. I'm thinking the first head gasket blew because of a leaky spot that was filled it leak stopper temporarily. Who knows. I can only imagine how this car was abused in the years before I got it. The vacuum lines were connected incorrectly and it was overboosting when I got it. The guy who sold it to me thought it had a "real bad" engine problem but I knew better and got a sweet deal. Overboost cut out SOUNDS horrible to someone that doesn't know what it is when it happens. My gain I guess.

Where can I get a 3" swing valve? Aren't they custom made? Is this the side of the motor or the exhaust side? I'm assuming you'd have to have both so they will match up. I can weld it myself if I can get one made.

Thanks for the help guys.

PS, Mike, what's "dial up"? I think I heard my grand daddy tell me about that along with "VCR" tapes. It's 2006! Get high speed, it will change your life.

[turbovanman²]

Wow, thats the original head gasket. A few things I notice. Looks like the head gasket went due to the water eating the gasket, so get the head pressure tested, and machined. Have a nice valve job done and clean up the ports. Backcut the valves.
It looks like its running poorly, the burn colour is different, only #4 looks good. I would have the injectors cleaned by a injection shop and replace the oxygen sensor.

The 3 inch Dp and SV you get from www.turbosunleashed.com


Get the Mopar 005 head gasket and I prefer head studs, last forever. Also get a braided oil and coolant line kit from above vendor, get rid of the stock stuff, its probably going to fail soon.

[turbo xtc]

gasket match the intake to head this allows better flow it is not hard to do or you can have a shop do it for you.one other thing is set your plugs open end towards valves it helps the fuel to burn without much in its way i boost with a 2.5 and a log intake and 782 slider type cam i have found out that since a 2.5 needs breathing indexing plugs really help my bottom end torque since this is a odd combo i like the slider cam better it is a little more radical i like the 782 heads better then 282's the 282 has a little less volume pressure and the garrett don't spool near as fast the best head i have found for 2.5 is out of a 1987 t1 or t2 2.2 the 1987's didn't go to rollers yet at least some didn't and they have all they bolt holes for 1988 as well as 1987 86 and 85 but the laser is a heavier car then yours this is why i use the slider cam and prefer it i ran a roller for a while and i had a lot of problems keeping it cool i don't know why after i changed heads my temp stays under half while in town and under 1/4 when driving but i had to drill the head for cross-drilled gasket already was drilled for them