My 1971 Road runner

[Runcharger]

Likely a head gasket by the looks of the one plug, especially if you caught it right away. And yeah it's been running rich.

 

[71Beeper]

I agree the plugs are dark in color. The carb is a Holley 800cfm. That was the carb used when it was on the dyno. The primary jets in it are 72's - I'll jet it down to 68's.

 

[71Beeper]

Well, a bit of time has gone by. There was a period of time where I didn't want to look at the car as I was just deflated over what had happened.
But pick myself up and get my *** back in the garage to figure out what happened.
So, lets dig into the engine.
Off with the valve covers.

More milkshake....
Next, pull the intake.

No damage there. I pulled out each lifter to look at the face and am happy to report everything is good.
Next, pull the passenger side head.

Hmmm #6 cylinder & number 4 look cleaner than the other two.
Here's the head.

Next, inspect the bore for damage.
Cylinder #2

Cylinder #4

Cylinder #6

And cylinder #8

No visible damage and the head gasket showed no signs of damage.

 

[71Beeper]

Next, pull the drivers side head.

Cylinder #5 looks cleaner than the rest.
Here's the head.

Checked the bores and they were as clean as the passenger side.

So, I took the heads up to my engine guy (the same place that did the dyno work).
No sooner did I unload the heads from the trunk of my car and carry them in and put them on the bench does he find the issue....

And this is before any pressure testing or magnafluxing has been done, which he will still do.

I hope that can be repaired & he finds no more holes....

 

[T2R9]

Wow. That's a pretty big hole. Surprised they did not catch it during the machine work. Maybe a casting flaw that did not show till it was run again??

Get at it again, you got this!

 

[Nxcoupe]

Next, pull the drivers side head.
View attachment 1770139
Cylinder #5 looks cleaner than the rest.
Here's the head.
View attachment 1770140
Checked the bores and they were as clean as the passenger side.

So, I took the heads up to my engine guy (the same place that did the dyno work).
No sooner did I unload the heads from the trunk of my car and carry them in and put them on the bench does he find the issue....
View attachment 1770141View attachment 1770142
And this is before any pressure testing or magnafluxing has been done, which he will still do.

I hope that can be repaired & he finds no more holes....

I have been building engines for close to 50 years and I have never seen that before. Thanks for sharing, glad everything else looks ok.

 

[72 Satellite]

Next, pull the drivers side head.
View attachment 1770139
Cylinder #5 looks cleaner than the rest.
Here's the head.
View attachment 1770140
Checked the bores and they were as clean as the passenger side.

So, I took the heads up to my engine guy (the same place that did the dyno work).
No sooner did I unload the heads from the trunk of my car and carry them in and put them on the bench does he find the issue....
View attachment 1770141View attachment 1770142
And this is before any pressure testing or magnafluxing has been done, which he will still do.

I hope that can be repaired & he finds no more holes....

Thanks for detailing your issues and Troubleshooting steps so well here, along with the good quality pics!

 

[71Beeper]

I thought I'd better dig back into my old photos of when I first got these heads freshened up and serviced - must have been prior to 2005.
Holy Crap!
I can see the flaw.

Second one in from the right, just below the exhaust valve.

 

[T2R9]

Yup pretty visible. Did they say if it can be fixed or do you need to find a new one?

 

[71Beeper]

No response yet as he is going to the PRI show this weekend.

 

[71Beeper]

Finally got a response from my engine guy.
The head has been repaired....whoo hoo!
One valve had a crack in it - he is waiting for a replacement valve to come in.
He says give it 2 weeks.
He is also getting me a set of Cometic head gaskets.

That's great news for me.

 

[ct71rr]

That's great news! Glad to hear it!

 

[71Beeper]

Well...last weekend I went and picked up the heads.
I get there and Al pulls back the shrink wrap one the head with the hole and I see the hole hasn't been fixed.
I said to Al WTF???
He says that hole doesn't go anywhere - its not a thru hole.

He did pressure test them and the test was good.
He did say that the head gasket surface was warped and he took off .005" to clean them up.
He replaced the exhaust valve with the crack in it and cleaned up the chambers and installed the inner valve springs I removed when I broke the engine in the car.

He did get me these MLS head gaskets - I thought they were going to be Cometics.

He did say to spray them up with copper spray before installing.

So, all in all he contributes this whole thing to the head gaskets.
The engine sat together for almost 8 years on the engine stand with no heat going thru it or any run time.
Al says that the head gaskets lost their effectiveness during this time.
I guess I'll wait and see when I reinstall everything and get it running.

Now All I need is for some warmer weather to get back in the garage.

 

[71Beeper]

With the weather still a bit too chilly to spread silicone I prepped and painted up some parts to get them ready.
Masked and ready for paint.

And now painted.

The outer head studs came out with the nuts as they had many coats of engine paint on the threads....so I soaked them in some paint stripper to get the engine paint off them.

The stuff does a pretty good job.

Next is to neutralize them in some water.

The temperature in my garage is starting to creep up (I have no heat in my garage).

 

[71Beeper]

Spent some time today getting the masking tape off the parts.

I also pre-fitted the one piece oil pan gasket to see how it will go when it comes to install it.
I installed these things first.

Now install the gasket.

Not too bad. Hopefully the job will go smooth once its time to spread some sealant.

 

[Nxcoupe]

Spent some time today getting the masking tape off the parts.
View attachment 1832758View attachment 1832759View attachment 1832760
I also pre-fitted the one piece oil pan gasket to see how it will go when it comes to install it.
I installed these things first.
View attachment 1832766View attachment 1832761View attachment 1832762
Now install the gasket.
View attachment 1832763View attachment 1832764View attachment 1832765
Not too bad. Hopefully the job will go smooth once its time to spread some sealant.

I save those out of every felpro one piece gasket I buy. I have a lot of them now, somewhere....... lol