Reached the final straw... think shes gone

[281pony]

as im sure alot of you know, ive been having the problems. blew a head gasket after 14 miles, wrench fell into engine, rockers knocking, popping/backfiring at idle.

i got my new plugs today, and fixed my backfiring/idle. i let it idle for about 5 minutes and i was going to take it out for a drive. ok cool. i get in the car to move it back, and my temp gauge went from not reading up to 180, move to reverse 190, back up 10 feet 200.

milky oil, milky water. head gasket again, maybe my block, maybe my heads. i dont know what is wrong, but its down again. sounded good, revved good (lightly revved to 1500), idled good, then all the sudden back to blown.

i am so pissed off right now i could almost cry. i do nothing but BABY this car not to mention, i work my ASS off for this car, did EVERYTHING myself, and have worked so hard over the last 6 weeks to get this damn thing going and i have had nothing but loss of sleep and work. i dont have the money for whatever this is, and i dont have another reliable car to drive.

now i get the pleasure of ripping it ALL back apart, and i have those stripped rocker arm bolts that also happened to me fixing my rockers.

i appreciate everyone being supportive and offering the kind words of encouragement over the past few weeks, but i dont think words can fix this one. arms are shaking too bad to type now.

 

[ss93cobra]

Not exactly sure where you live but perhaps a buddy or two could help you out this time around. Not to imply you screwed up, but sometimes a few people working on it makes time go faster, keeps you interested in getting it done, and helps keep you from wanting to put a slug in it.

 

[CManT1914]

I've been there too, actually, I'm there now. I finally got most of the problems fixed with mine, except I STILL haven't been able to put my c/c plates on. Now, I come out this morning, and my left front tire is flat. I air it up, drive it to work, and lunch, and it's back down to 10 lbs. Great, now I get to spend the money I don't have on crap that shouldn't have problems anyway. But, it's still worth keeping it, last night I was racing some dude in a ricer, spun through 1st, MISSED 2nd ENTIRELY, and STILL burned him bad. lol, it's times like that that make having a mustang enjoyable.

 

[crunchie12268]

Thats sucks I feel for ya....

It sounds like a blown gasket but maybe something else is wrong. Maybe the head is warpped, maybe the block.. Did you torque everything down correctly and did you put the gasket on right? Also, if you have drained the coolant latley then it would be normal for it to go up to 200 even 230, then it should fall rapidly. You could have an air pocket... but I guess that doesn't really matter now that the gasket is blown. Run a compression check, but I am pretty sure it is a gasket.

And another question... where is centraila?

 

[the pony boy]

during and after my rebuild i went through all types of crap too.during the build i had a leaky thermostat housing and bad freeze plugs on the heads i just got back form the shop.than i cracked the fulcrums the rockers sit on,than after i got everything bolted on i noticed the explorer lower didnt have a return for the egr so back to the machine shop it went.than after getting everything bolted and torqued it ate 3 belts and on the last one it took the radiator and some hoses.and now it runs great but im having problems with my pro-m but other than that it runs great.oh yeah and during all this my neice backed into the door and ruined it.but im happy with cause i did it all my self and i learned alot and cant wait to do it again. good luck phil

 

[Grandmaster]

Ouch man i feel for ya. I know what its like sortof but not to that extreme. My car has been down for almost 2 months now because the freaking water pump broke. How, you ask? I was taking the pump off, broke a bolt. Ok that bites, so i spend some time trying to get it out. I decided screw it, i dont need that one bolt, the others will hold it just fine. Well i needed new bolts now though, because that garbage was corroded. So i couldn't find any anywhere except windsor-fox. I couldn't get ahold of them so i went to lowes to get a set. I got a set from there, put the pump on, and it leaked like crazy. Not because of the missing bolt though, when i took it off the gasket was completely demolished. Its like it was made of freaking construction paper or something it was so messed up. So i got new gaskets, put the pump on again. Only this time i broke 2 of the bolts from lowes. I guess i got the wrong grade or something because they snapped like twigs. So then i had to pull the timing cover of which took me a while because i am new to all of this, learning as i go. So then i had to get the broken bolts out which took forever. And then i FINALLY got ahold of windsor-fox and my bolts should be in the mail. During all of this i have college (homework, writing several papers, research paper, exams, etc), work, etc etc, so its taking forever. But it'll be done soon....

Said all that to say this : I (kindof) know your pain, but i hope that it works out for you. Just try to think that it cant last forever..
-E

 

[5spd GT]

Not exactly sure where you live but perhaps a buddy or two could help you out this time around. Not to imply you screwed up, but sometimes a few people working on it makes time go faster, keeps you interested in getting it done, and helps keep you from wanting to put a slug in it.

Exactly...

I got real frustrated during my h/c/i swap...it isn't fun when you don't have buddies available to help you out...but when they were there it went much better

Oh and are you sure your installing the headgaskets correctly? Torqueing and everything? Proper headgaskets?

 

[lit_mike_2001]

another vote for u put the head gaskets on wrong

 

[Boss 351]

Did you check to see if the deck is straight? I don't think a Ford SB would end up with a crooked deck though... Have the heads checked and milled... what type of gaskets were used?

 

[281pony]

gaskets were not installed improperly. block and heads were gasket scraped from the minimal material left on them from the earlier 14 miles. then it was vacuumed, wiped clean of oil, felt by finger, gone over again with a scraper, ect. i was very thorough with cleaning it and making sure everything was right. the correct torque sequence and specs were done also.

the gaskets were felpro 0.050". the heads were just taken in for a valve job, new springs, decked, ect. they were milled down three thousands. so i have no thoughts of it being the heads, nor my gasket install. which leaves this block.

i dont/have never half assed anything on my car. if it didnt work right it didnt go on, especially something like a head gasket. i just dont have the money nor patience to go through the bs anymore. once i have had everything confirmed to be in fine working condition, ill be selling it all if anyone is interested.

someday ill put an engine back in, for now im selling it and getting something better for my money.

 

[TT91]

who built/ machined the shortblock/block?

 

[Draginmadd]

just a thought,do u have a mustang club in your area???do some checkin,local speed shop,or search the web.if u find one join up,the members are always ready to help and remember,your not alone,we all been in the same boat at one time or another.

 

[NYC LSC]

Dammit, man. Sorry to see this. I've been following your threads since I replied your first one about this problem. Then the dropped wrench. Now this.

I doubt Centralia is close to NYC, but if you are, I'll offer up my hands and give you some help.

Best of luck, man. And again, sorry to see this happen.

 

[Michael Yount]

Sorry to hear it -- how did you end up getting the wrench out? You were dropping the pan/pulling the engine last I read.

 

[HISSIN50]

I doubt Centralia is close to NYC, but if you are, I'll offer up my hands and give you some help.

(

Centralia is south of Seattle. a nice drive along I-5 away.

if you have another car, i would drive it and let this thing sit on the back burner for a bit. then come back fresh. i like the idea of having some buds over to help out. sometimes a few more eyes and heads can really help out.

best of luck.

 

[illwood]

Just to rule out the possibility, is the deck of the engine possibly warped?

Did you use a machinist's rule / straightedge along the length, across, and diagonal with a feeler gauge to check the block for warping? It's possible that could be your problem if you haven't already checked it.

WRT the head gasket comments, I had a 390FE in an F100 that kept overheating for the original owner. A teardown revealed that the head gaskets were on backwards and the coolant went from the block to the intake without going through the length of the heads.

 

[Idwitheld-1`]

as im sure alot of you know, ive been having the problems. blew a head gasket after 14 miles, wrench fell into engine, rockers knocking, popping/backfiring at idle.

i got my new plugs today, and fixed my backfiring/idle. i let it idle for about 5 minutes and i was going to take it out for a drive. ok cool. i get in the car to move it back, and my temp gauge went from not reading up to 180, move to reverse 190, back up 10 feet 200.

milky oil, milky water. head gasket again, maybe my block, maybe my heads. i dont know what is wrong, but its down again. sounded good, revved good (lightly revved to 1500), idled good, then all the sudden back to blown.

i am so pissed off right now i could almost cry. i do nothing but BABY this car not to mention, i work my ASS off for this car, did EVERYTHING myself, and have worked so hard over the last 6 weeks to get this damn thing going and i have had nothing but loss of sleep and work. i dont have the money for whatever this is, and i dont have another reliable car to drive.

now i get the pleasure of ripping it ALL back apart, and i have those stripped rocker arm bolts that also happened to me fixing my rockers.

i appreciate everyone being supportive and offering the kind words of encouragement over the past few weeks, but i dont think words can fix this one. arms are shaking too bad to type now.

Hang in there Bro. A least you have a stang to wrench on. Mine was t-boned this morning.

Machinist rule the deck, and heads.
Verify torque sequence.
How do you know your torque wrench is accurate? Maybe its really off?
Re-using head bolts?
blockage in coolant passages causing overheating?
Do you have coolant flow past the t-stat? I suspect the heads are getting much hotter than the coolant temp gauge says.

Hope this helps. I'm in Portland OR. I think your up the 5 from me.

 

[281pony]

shortblock was built and assembled by dss.

i got the engine nearly brand new so i never had it decked. my heads were done and verified though.

torque is verified on heads, it has studs also not bolts.

ended up having my cousin get the wrench out from the timing chain cover. not that it matters now

 

[TT91]

take the heads off, inspect the gaskets, check the surface with a square. Clean both services. Installed new gaskets DRY, no sealant. Run the engine with NO coolant in the motor and allow it to get hot to the touch, NOT OVERHEATING, and quickly shut it off, should take about 1 min. Let it cool off, and then do it again. By doing this, your sealing the printo seal sealant on the head gaskets instead of having the chance to leak coolant through them. Once your happy, and have good oil Psi on your gauge, fill up your system and see how she goes from there.

 

[67stang390]

Not to sound like a smartass because I almost did this myself, but are the head gaskets on the right side of the engine? The first time I torqued down one of my heads, the gasket was blocking the coolant passage on the block. Luckily I caught it on the other side and fixed the one I had already bolted down.