blown headgasket

[dmax711]

Seeking some advice, I am planning a motor build and have a block that i was goinna start building and then when the time came swap it into the truck.. But now i have a blown head gasket and def. do not want to ruin the motor.. should i put new gaskets and arp's in and run it or limp her around for a few months while i build another motor!?

 

[Bustedknuckles]

New gaskets and stud it and run it till the compression gets too low. . How badly are they blown? Just a hard hose or blowing coolant out?

 

[dmax711]

hard upper hose, blows anti freeze out of over flow.

 

[Bustedknuckles]

Don't drive it. I know a guy who tried to limp his cummins that was puking coolant. Cost him a engine....

 

[custom8726]

hard upper hose, blows anti freeze out of over flow.

Depends on how close you are to completing your built motor? I have my over flow cap on as loose as I can leave it without it vibrating off. As long as I keep the boost/tuning reasonably low it does not blow the coolant out but as soon as I start hammering on it, it will blow (literally) gallons out the overflow tube in a short time. I am just trying to finish up my other truck and then my 05 will be going under the knife for some gasket's (C) Studs and a couple other goodies.. Point being I would not sweat it assuming you dont run it out of antifreeze and over heat it or plan on driving it across the country any time soon.

 

[dmax711]

havent even started the build yet, litterally just got the block. I was just going to take my time with the build and now i have to either gasket and stud the motor in my truck and hope the rods hold up or continue with the build and baby her as its my daily driver..

 

[custom8726]

Don't drive it. I know a guy who tried to limp his cummins that was puking coolant. Cost him a engine....

The Original engine that I pulled and built for my LLY had bad head gaskets for 4-6 months (I forget Exactly) and the engine and heads were completly fine. Now fast forward a few engines and I am back to a stock motor with really bad gaskets going on another 4 or 5 months of daily driving, towing, and even sled pulling at the end of the season. I will be pulling the current motor here in the next few weeks and dont expect to see much if any carnage from running it with bad H.G's.. That said I am not recommending the O.P. or anyone else just ignore the problem and not fix it as soon as possible but when its your DD and or time/money is a object you CAN (Usually) postpone it a bit if need be:thumb:

 

[dmax711]

Thats good to no..It just sucks cause i probally should fix the motor and post pone the full build. I will def use grade c gaskets and arp's but who knows how the rods are as im not to easy on the old girl. lol

 

[custom8726]

havent even started the build yet, litterally just got the block. I was just going to take my time with the build and now i have to either gasket and stud the motor in my truck and hope the rods hold up or continue with the build and baby her as its my daily driver..

Well if your not gathering parts, have a machine shop lined up and have another vehicle to drive while your truck is down you might want to just bite the bullet and fix them? It's a weekend in the garage doing it your self and your only really out the money for the gaskets since the ARP's are re-usable... Nothing goes as fast as you expect when you are trying to build one of these motors, atleast in my case the last couple times. Yours always waiting for parts, or the machine shop or the Balance shop, part's never arrive when there suppose to and all the little odds and ends you dont even think about add up to alot of un-expected $$ in the end. So amongst the rambling of the last few posts IMO,, if you can semi baby it and build your motor by spring I would just run it, if its going to be over the next year or so getting your built motor done I would fix it ASAP....

 

[S Phinney]

If you have the money replace them. Worse case could be ruining the block but that's not the most likely thing to occur. It will take you 2-3 days of work to replace them if doing it yourself. Most shop here charge in the neighborhood of 1800.00 to do a set (labor only)

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[dmax711]

Thanks for your guy's input..I dont have parts yet just a block, i would really hate to fix this motor and have a rod go. mabe just doing a small build with lbz rods and new pistons would be better as i would then no what i have. And i kno the lbz rod thing has been brought up a thousand times but its better then what i have now and time is kind of a factor, as well as not going broke..

 

[Evan@InglewoodTrans]

Well if your not gathering parts, have a machine shop lined up and have another vehicle to drive while your truck is down you might want to just bite the bullet and fix them? It's a weekend in the garage doing it your self and your only really out the money for the gaskets since the ARP's are re-usable... Nothing goes as fast as you expect when you are trying to build one of these motors, atleast in my case the last couple times. Yours always waiting for parts, or the machine shop or the Balance shop, part's never arrive when there suppose to and all the little odds and ends you dont even think about add up to alot of un-expected $$ in the end. So amongst the rambling of the last few posts IMO,, if you can semi baby it and build your motor by spring I would just run it, if its going to be over the next year or so getting your built motor done I would fix it ASAP....

This is good info ^. I'm starting to find some unexpected odds and ends that I thought I had planned for in my build.
If I was you nick I would stud it up and fix the head gaskets. Then you can get parts for your build as you go and hey you will already have head studs crossed off the list. I'll give you a hand whenever you want to do them :hug:

 

[custom8726]

Thanks for your guy's input..I dont have parts yet just a block, i would really hate to fix this motor and have a rod go. mabe just doing a small build with lbz rods and new pistons would be better as i would then no what i have. And i kno the lbz rod thing has been brought up a thousand times but its better then what i have now and time is kind of a factor, as well as not going broke..

Just keep in mind if you use LBZ rods you still need all the bearings, machine, work, balancing, etc, you would need going with a quality aftermarket rod (Carillo, Crower, Howard's, R&R).. Thats alot of money to spend on a motor that will still bend rods.. JMHO.. Also theres no reason to buy new pistons if your staying under 750 WHP or so, just de-lipp (or not) your stock pistons and run it assuming they check out fine. Theres 100's of threads on pistons/rods here if you have not read up on them yet? Either way from the sounds of your time line to completion of your built motor I would just stud it with some C Gaskets and keep it under 600 WHP untill you get a little closer to having a built motor...

 

[dmax711]

You guys are rite.. I should just get new gaskets and studs coming and do it. I dont think it will be that bad as half of the stupid crap that was on it is now gone after the s464 got put on..And thanks evan! looks like we are gonna see how far we can take a lly rod.:woott: