OH no, not another head gasket thread....

[maozebong]

ok fellas, i have a question for you guys. (no its not if i have bad headgaskets, i know how to diagnose stuff)

 

i have 197k on the clock on my 91 loyale, and i intend on driving an assload of miles this summer (over 7k ) going cross country and what not. i have no idea how old the head gaskets are, but ill tell you, its the absolute last thing i want to find out, thousands of miles from my destination.

 

i was going to freshen up a few things on the motor and i already have all the stuff for doing a timing belt and oil pump reseal and shaft seals. i was wondering, should i just pull the motor and do the head gaskets and cam case o-rings while im ahead, make it ready for the eventual thousands of miles in hot weather that it will see?

 

if i go that far though, ill also do valve seals and port the head while im at it, see if i can pick up a bit of extra power out of these tractor heads.

 

 

so, A just do timing belt, oil pump, and shaft seals?

 

or B quick port and polish and top end rebuild?

[cal_look_zero]

Doing the HGs in car isn't horrible, just fyi.

 

I would do them for peace of mind. They're cheap, and easy to do.

[zukiru]

do you need the car between now and the trip?

I mean it sucks to get too far in to one and have to put it back in any kind of rush at all.

also you'll want time for some shake down driving. or as my dad says you'll need to "live with it" for a while (and he wonders why he's been married 4 times.)

 

anyway have back up heads in case you screw 'em up.

[maozebong]

Doing the HGs in car isn't horrible, just fyi.

 

I would do them for peace of mind. They're cheap, and easy to do.

 

i have a lift and all kinds of other fancy tools so pulling the motor at my shop wouldn't be too bad, and id probably do the rear main seal and a few other things as just a quick reseal without splitting the block.

 

do you need the car between now and the trip?

I mean it sucks to get too far in to one and have to put it back in any kind of rush at all.

also you'll want time for some shake down driving. or as my dad says you'll need to "live with it" for a while (and he wonders why he's been married 4 times.)

 

anyway have back up heads in case you screw 'em up.

 

 

ive ported quite a few heads, in my short years on earth so i dont think ill need spares, but there is always the "what if" factor of messing something up... thankfully i have quite a few resources for head welding/machine work through the motorsports work i do.

 

 

shake down driving? what do you mean by that? the afterwards testing part after i finish the HG's? if that's what you mean i'm not terribly worried about it, and i have plenty of time before the trip to get the car in top running shape. (i leave in june) i also have a backup car to drive.

 

 

i appreciate your guy's input. ill probably go ahead and do them soon, make sure everything is perfect.

Edited December 16, 2011 by maozebong

[cal_look_zero]

i have a lift and all kinds of other fancy tools so pulling the motor at my shop wouldn't be too bad, and id probably do the rear main seal and a few other things as just a quick reseal without splitting the block.

 

 

 

 

ive ported quite a few heads, in my short years on earth so i dont think ill need spares, but there is always the "what if" factor of messing something up... thankfully i have quite a few resources for head welding/machine work through the motorsports work i do.

 

 

shake down driving? what do you mean by that? the afterwards testing part after i finish the HG's? if that's what you mean i'm not terribly worried about it, and i have plenty of time before the trip to get the car in top running shape. (i leave in june) i also have a backup car to drive.

 

 

i appreciate your guy's input. ill probably go ahead and do them soon, make sure everything is perfect.

 

I've recently (within last 2 months) done the whole shebang to both an EA82 and an EJ22. I did everything short of splitting the block on the EJ22, and it really is worth the peace of mind.

[idosubaru]

if you've been driving it for a long time and suspect it's in good condition i wouldn't worry about it. they generally don't blow headgaskets if they're not overheated...of course you probably don't know the full history of the motor so that's ambiguous no matter what to some degree.

 

i wouldn't do them unless i was wanting at least another 100,000 miles out of the car. for 10k or small change like that, probably not if it has a decent relatively lengthy history since you've had it.

 

if you do go ahead and do it, i always do these in the car, they're too easy not too. i even do the XT6 6 cylinders which are essentially the same engines in the car, they're tighter but still easier in the car. i can have the heads popping off by the time the engine is coming out. with air tools doing it in the car is a breeze.

 

cleaning is a big time sucker, parts cleaners or having a machine shop do that is helpful. drill with one of those yellow rubber aluminum attachments for cleaning, etc. you know what you're doing so you don't need pointers there.

 

use Subaru intake manifold gaskets, some of the aftermarkets are cheap, looks like cereal boxes were cut up.

 

myself and many others prefer the Fel Pro PT headgaskets that are designed to not be retorqued, saves that hassle and you've got years (or decades) of experiential evidence that they're a great fit for this engine.

 

mitzpah engineering rebuilds yours for $3 each or sells you theirs for $5 each rebuilt HLA's.

 

ebay timing belt kits are great - $80 for all new pulleys and tensioners.

[MilesFox]

as long as the car has not been overheated or sat for long periond of time or old stale coolant it should be fine, as they routinely go 200,000 miles on original gaskets if not neglected.

 

if you pull the cam towers off to service the o-rings, you could make a round on the head bolts with a torque wrench by following the re-torque instructions.

[maozebong]

the thing is, it did sit for about 9 months dead in a parking lot, lightly overheated (not full red, would sit at 1/2 instead of 1/4) at least once a week for a year when the previous owner would drive it on the highway with a clogged radiator, and the previous owner changed the oil once in the 3 years he had it . before that, it had regular maintenance at a dealer, according to the glovebox files.

 

 

that's what makes me ask and wonder if i should do it. and i will probably do it since you guys make it sound so easy just not right now, i should be able to drag it out till it gets warmer, and just do the timing belt and cam seals today.

 

my other question since grossgary brought it up, do i need new/reman lifters? right now, it only ticks on a very cold startup, and i attribute that to the extremely leaky oil pump that will get resealed today along with the other front seals... so, if they don't tick after i reseal the pump today, don't worry about it?