Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) O-ringing in 2 weeks.....which gasket?

[BWillard]

OK, first I'd like to say I honestly searched! I'm getting the head o-ringed between Christmas and New Years and have to get my parts ordered, so please help me I talked with Doug at ADT and although he's very busy, he gave me the # of the guy that does his machine work so I can make this happen. I getting the head magnafluxed, surfaced(if needed), and a set of ARP 12mm studs. Which head gasket should I run... . stock, 0. 10, 0. 20? The plan is to add twins later down the road, but not right now. Running an oversize gasket will help to reduce combustion temps with high boost, but this is a daily driver and don't want it to be pig at startup. On the other hand I don't want to do this again. I can live with it being a little harder to start but what do you guys think?

 

[Bandit1]

doug's a great guy isnt he! he wont steer you wrong and i can second that he is very very busy with the lack of help and building a fire breathing monster out of a certain customers motor! i would go with a stock or . 10 over gasket it really depends if there is some taken off the head when it is machined. i have heard that . 20 you really start to loose bottom end grunt. give piers a shout he can at least tell you which gasket to get. while itis off get it resurfaced, dont cut corners do it once do it right.

 

[**ICEMAN**]

best to wait and see if it will need machined before you buy a gasket.

have them check the exhaust valve seats when they flux it.

i have a new head,,o-ringed and used a 10 over 12 valve marine head gasket on mine with arp studs torqued to 120.

not exactly sure what part of pa your in,,but there is a machine shop in hagerstown md that has experience with o-ringing.

i also have a roll of 50,000ths wire that i will sell by the foot if you need it.

 

[DAWG-1]

Hey ICEMAN, Did you have the 12V 0. 10 marine headgasket machined to work on the 24V or use it as is? What is the part number on the gasket? Thanks, Sam.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I put a . 010" over on my 12-valve. No noticeable loss in the bottom end, but more blue smoke when cold. So far starts real easy but then it hasn't been that cold yet.



Unless you plan to go nuts with your truck I think a . 010" would do you fine and work with "daily driver" twins.



Vaughn

 

[**ICEMAN**]

Hey ICEMAN, Did you have the 12V 0. 10 marine headgasket machined to work on the 24V or use it as is? What is the part number on the gasket? Thanks, Sam.

it's machined/punched to work on the 24v.

got it from PIERS

 

[Snow man]

If your going to go with twins id would install an . 010 over at the minimum. Im running a brand new cyl head. (Don M did the o ringing and sold me the head). I am running a . 020 gasket,and i do get a tiny bit of blue smoke at cold startup below 40 degrees,if i dont wait for the grid heaters. If i wait,no smoke. With twins, the valves tend to "float" a bit more,the hi boost does it,it is very easy to get valve to piston contact,thats why i say go with an . 010 at the min. With that gasket i had zero contact. I would listen carefully to the advice of Doug at ADT,he's done a lot of o ringing,and knows what works. He's a good guy too!

 

[BWillard]

Well, I did some callin' around tonight and after talkin' with Harry at Piers, I'm going with the 0. 20 over 12V marine gasket. I think in the long run I'll be better off with the twins and later with a cam. We got to talkin' about valve clearance after the surface job on the head and with a cam upgrade things can get real close! I don't think cold start will be that much of a concern because I religously plug it in on cold nights and always let the grid heaters cycle, plus a 10 minute warm up on top of that. Besides, it's only REAL COLD here a couple months a year :-laf

 

[BWillard]

*UPDATE*





Well, I got the truck ripped down (on my birthday) the day after Christmas and everything should be ready to go back in Thursday evening! The studs will be here tomorrow (after a delay in shipping) and I'm awaiting the phone call from the machine shop. I also removed the transmission cooler from the side of the block... ... the last reminder of the truck being an automatic this will also give me more clearance for the "BIG" turbo! If I can figure out how to post some pics, I'll try to get them on.

 

[BWillard]

Well, the truck is back up and running, but have a coolant leak on the right front of engine at the gasket. I noticed that on the marine gasket in that corner there is no seal for the water jacket in the block. I'm pretty sure this is where the leak is coming from. Anyone else have this problem with the marine gasket on the 24V?

 

[BPonci]

Have you done your retorque yet? If you o-ringed you need to retorque 3 to 4 times. I have found that many times the head keeps dropping to a point. Dont forget to readjust the valves after you retorque.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

That bites

Might give Piers a call and see what he thinks. Vaughn

 

[BWillard]

I talked to Piers today and they see no cause for alarm. There might be a little more protrusion on the o-ring in number 1 cylinder and/or deck surface might be a little low in that corner. Since I've only retorqued once, he seems to think it'll seal up over the next 2-3 retorques. I initially torqued to 120 ft. lbs. and they told me to go to 125 ft. lbs. next time and stay at that here after. Hopefully it'll seal after this... ... .

 

[Jim Fulmer]

I talked to Piers today and they see no cause for alarm. There might be a little more protrusion on the o-ring in number 1 cylinder and/or deck surface might be a little low in that corner. Since I've only retorqued once, he seems to think it'll seal up over the next 2-3 retorques. I initially torqued to 120 ft. lbs. and they told me to go to 125 ft. lbs. next time and stay at that here after. Hopefully it'll seal after this... ... .

Sounds like mine at the beginning. When I got my head way back when I didn't have the studs as they were back ordered so I put it on without them, did the warm up and re-torque and still had a tiny bit of leakage so I torqued them again then a few days later got the studs and did a 1 for 1 and it was fine for a few months then started a tiny bit of leakage so I did the re-torque again and it has been great ever since, in that time I've gained 15 psi of boost and 150 HP and have now just pulled the head off for the first time, wow the bite on the gasket was to dream about..... no wonder I never had another problem. So the same head (still flat and not cracked) will go one my new motor with 14mm's and the same type gasket.



Jim

 

[Swayse]

I fire ringed mine and torqued down my arp studs to 140 foot pounds, drove it for 300 miles and retorqued cold to 140 lbs. No problems yet, but I'm only at around 500rwhp.

 

[Snow man]

Swayse, where did you get the 140ft lb number from ? Thats a bit high,Id be worried about pulling the threads from the block at 140ft lbs. I hope you bottom tapped all the threads to get the studds all the way down. Im at 125 ft lbs,and its holding great with an o ring at 65psi max

 

[BPonci]

Glad you got it figured out. That happened to me before. Let us know how it runs.

 

[Swayse]

Swayse, where did you get the 140ft lb number from ? Thats a bit high,Id be worried about pulling the threads from the block at 140ft lbs. I hope you bottom tapped all the threads to get the studds all the way down. Im at 125 ft lbs,and its holding great with an o ring at 65psi max

Not sure where I got the 140 number from. My buddy got his fire ring kit from Haislys and they told him 140 foot pounds. I got mine from jeff prince and he told me 90 plus a quarter turn. Mark one bolt and torque down the head bolts 5 lbs. at a time after the 90, and keep going around until that one bolt is at a quarter turn. I got lazy and torqued them to 30, 60, 90, 95,100,105,110,115,120,125,130,135,140. Once I got to 140, I went a few more rounds at 140, just to make sure they were all the same. I was sorry that I hadn't maked one bolt to see if I did more than a quarter turn. I think Ron A torqued his down to 138.



I tapped the threads all the way down, I feel good about the job I did, all warm and fuzzy.

 

[BWillard]

I checked it tonight after work and I still see a little green around it ,but my coolant level hasn't gone down at all! I didn't do my second re-torque yet because it's dark when I get home and I don't have access to a garage right now... ..... If I take it easy till the weekend and keep an eye on the coolant level I should be fine, but I'd like to do it ASAP!



Jim, are you also runnin' the marine gasket?

 

[BWillard]

Glad you got it figured out. That happened to me before. Let us know how it runs.

As of right now, it seems to run really well considering I've been keeping it under 25-30lbs of boost till it's final torque down! After that valve adjustment it seems smoother, the turbo seems louder, and I'm not sure if it revs up quicker due to the lower compression or maybe I've just been running my dads BONE STOCK '02 HO around too much while mines been down! :-laf