wadzii

if the overflow is filling up then you are probably lifting the head or your radiator cap is worn out/needs to have a higher pressure rating.

replace the rad cap and pull a couple degrees of timing out. See if that fixes your problem

I'd be curious to see what ARP says, on my old stock bolts 22ft/lbs +90 deg +90 deg was around 105ft/lbs.

If the gasket was wrong you'd probably have seen issues long before now.

jwa4378

^ Exactly. Joey I believe has had the 3mm HG for a while now. If the passages were blocked from day 1, he would have overheating issues from day 1. Blocking the amount of passages that teamvalorracing is saying are blocked would cause overheating at stock power levels.. Let along running 500+hp for a few months.

I noticed that Joey did not coat the HG in copper spray (Laskey Racing recommends spraying the layers with a thin later of Permatex Copper spray to get a good metal-metal bite on the block and the head). If there was any contamination on the deck of the head or the block (dust, debris, etc.), I can see a small seeping leak developing over time (especially with that power level and the weather we have had up here in NYC this summer (hot weather helps cause detonation)).

And as far as "angles" on the pics, angles are everything. If the flash is not returned to the aperture, it will appear dark. If it does, it looks lighter (silver gradient of the metal in the pic). I said I can see the curvature, because I can see the mill marks on the inside of the block / outside of the cylinders, where the factory mills cut the block/cylinders from metal stock.

I think his head is lifting a bit on boost and is settling back down at idle (i.e. - dynamic cylinder pressures not high enough to lift the head at idle/non-boost situations).

John

Venomous S

[QUOTE=jwa4378,Aug 2 2010, 12:21 PM] I noticed that Joey did not coat the HG in copper spray (Laskey Racing recommends spraying the layers with a thin later of Permatex Copper spray to get a good metal-metal bite on the block and the head).

teamvalorracing

honda doesnt use copper spray...

inline pro doesnt use copper spray...

cometic doesnt use copper spray...

i dont think that has anything to do with it at all.

this is difficult to assess the problem source over the internet. all we can do is give reasonable hypothesis for him to test and see what he gets as a result.

Soul Coughing

I have used copper spray as well as not using copper spray. Both headgaskets lasted the same amount of time, about 1 year and 15-20k miles. This of course was at lower boost and power levels than joey. Personally, I think the time the gasket last is indirectly proportional to the amount of power you make as well as to how the car is driven. Be it from the lifting headgasket due to stock headstuds or heat cycling a much thicker headgasket than stock or detonation.

Spec_Ops2087

Correct me if I'm wrong but as the coolant heats up, it expands and hence the overflow tank.

I'm pretty sure when my car was 100% stock the overflow levels would vary depending on if the engine was hot or cold.



Can anyone explain?

teamvalorracing

the overflow is filled by the compression of the rad cap.

the rad cap has a pressure rating and that pressure rises with an increase of coolant temps. so as it gets hot, the pressure builds and to relieve some of the pressure, the cap compresses and the fluid is then drained into the overflow.

wadzii

once you end up with more pressure than the cap is rated for it will flow into the overflow.

The level will fluctuate, but shouldn't ever fill up

If its filling up the pressure is going way above what the cap is rated for or the cap is worn out.

Spec_Ops2087

Ok, so everyone is talking about completly filling up the overflow tank then?


If that's the case, then that makes sense to me.

Soul Coughing

The big issue with a blown headgasket is not as much that the coolant fills up the overflow tank, but that the now 'open' coolant system can no longer bleed itself once the car turns off. From my own personal experience, the headgasket doesn't just blow up over night. It slowly leaks, adding a little bit of air into the system everytime the car sees WOT. The air will usually catch itself in the highest part of the system, the heater core, which you can hear when you squeeze one of the radiator line. This is especially true in the summer, when the heater core is completely shut off because almost no one would be running with the heat on. At a certain point, the system can no longer bleed itself after each shut off and the air from the combustion chamber displaces the coolant and pushes it into the overflow tank. Its at this point that the car will start to overheat, and if someone is not vigilant the temperatures will start to rise damaging an already weakened headgasket.