Doing head gaskets

[96pushrod]

So after I got the heads off, I believe I found the issue. When I had the stroker put in, the builder reassembled the entire long block as well and apparently did not use any RTV anywhere besides the china walls. None of the water jackets had RTV, though. Now I’ve beat on this car for the last 7 years, so I guess I’ve got my moneys worth out of it.

The plus side was that the old gaskets both came off in one piece with fairly minimal residue left on the heads and block. Cleanup was pretty also fairly easy as a result.

I started putting the studs in last night but didn’t finish. I’ll snap some pics when I get all the studs in, still waiting on some of the other new hardware as well.

Thanks for all the help and insight!

Depending on which gasket was used, sometimes you can get away with no rtv. Honestly I never would though, it’s just too easy to just put a little on, and it gives some peace of mind.

If you use a fiber non steel core gasket you pretty much have to use some rtv though.

 

[ThinBlue502]

Hey guys! I wanted to follow up on this after I received so much help. Thanks again

So I went with studs on the heads, cost difference of less than $50 and it made reinstalling the heads much easier.

I painted my headers with high temp black and wrapped them with DEI.

 

[ThinBlue502]

My valve covers were color matched a long time ago and had some chipping, and they looked pretty faded in spots. Went with these for new:

Finally got it all put back together and started it up. GD radiator was leaking at the crimps on the end tanks. Typical. I actually found a brand new Mishimoto radiator on CL for $200! It’s really nice, all welded, no crimps.

Guy I bought it from has 4 mustangs, 4 different generations. He even threw in a Haynes repair manual just to be nice!

 

[ThinBlue502]

I tried to clean things up a bit under the hood as much as possible. I tucked the big wire harness that went across the back of the firewall, and repainted the firewall and inner fenders too. For a home job wasn’t too bad!

Finished:

I had family come in from out of state, including my two brothers. They hadn’t ever ridden in the Mustang. They also had never driven a manual transmission. We remedied both issues and did some nasty donuts to boot!

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Rdub6]

I tried to clean things up a bit under the hood as much as possible. I tucked the big wire harness that went across the back of the firewall, and repainted the firewall and inner fenders too. For a home job wasn’t too bad!

Finished:

I had family come in from out of state, including my two brothers. They hadn’t ever ridden in the Mustang. They also had never driven a manual transmission. We remedied both issues and did some nasty donuts to boot!

Thanks again for all the help!

Good to see man! I’ve always loved this car, as well as your story! Love seeing family getting involved in the passion we have for these cars!!!
Next time you’re in the garage with the boys from me!