Oh the sweet, sweet smell...

Saavedro88

Member
Jan 26, 2007
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Richmond VA
Of a BHG...
:cry:

This is the first time I've ever smelled the coolant btw... The first rebuild was for rodknock, no BHG.

I'm so pissed... Freakin Cobalt... I didn't even win! But mostly I'm pissed at myself... I don't even know how this happened...

So I need some opinions, I've been wanting to swap in a GTE for a while... Should I just do that? Should I just rebuild with a turbo kit for GE-T?

What can I do to make this NEVER happen again??
 

s383mmber1

New Member
Oct 31, 2005
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Dont be madd about a head gasket, you can change one easy in an afternoon....

If your a GE, stock headgasket with a milled/straight head and clean block.

If your putting in a MHG the block and head have to be machined.
 

AJ'S 88NA

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Jul 26, 2007
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Saavedro88 said:
It's already been done. I was under the impression that installing an MHG was like, the ultimate invincible fix?
You're saying the MHG was aready done?

If it's done right, ARP bolts or studs, like 383 said, head and block machined, retorqued?
 

s383mmber1

New Member
Oct 31, 2005
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Saavedro88 said:
I was under the impression that installing an MHG was like, the ultimate invincible fix?

Thats the 100% wrong way to think about it. Your wrong, anything can be destroyed in an engine at any given time for any reason.

If the heads not straight, itll BHG

If the block or heads cracked, itll BHG

Stock headbolts? Itlll BHG

Many other reasons? Itll BHG
 

Saavedro88

Member
Jan 26, 2007
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Richmond VA
No 1j is definitely NOT an option.

When I did the last rebuild for the RK, we installed ARP studs and bolts everywhere (except i think we used Rockfords for the Exhaust manifold), sent the head out to be machined, installed a no name head gasket that cost i think about 150 and torqued the head to I think 92 to try to raise the compression a little...

I know it's BHG cause the coolant is spewing out of my exhaust...
 

AJ'S 88NA

New Member
Jul 26, 2007
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Saavedro88 said:
No 1j is definitely NOT an option.

When I did the last rebuild for the RK, we installed ARP studs and bolts everywhere (except i think we used Rockfords for the Exhaust manifold), sent the head out to be machined, installed a no name head gasket that cost i think about 150 and torqued the head to I think 92 to try to raise the compression a little...

I know it's BHG cause the coolant is spewing out of my exhaust...
Don't see were you machined the block???

Did you use ARP head bolts or studs??

The studs I believe you can torque to 92 lbs, but the bolts you shouldn't go much more than what ARP recommends, I think it's around 72lbs. but don't quote me on that. ARP sends that info with the bolts.
 

Saavedro88

Member
Jan 26, 2007
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Richmond VA
s383mmber1 said:
Common man! Dont blame the car for this one.

Over torqueing the headgasket? Why?

ARP has torque ratings for a reason.....


Oh I'm not blaming the car! I know it was probably something I did. This was my first ever rebuild...

And I used the studs which, Like AJ, I thought I could torque those down to 92?

AJ: I had both machined, sorry...
 

ill Z

Back on the Grind
Mar 18, 2007
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USA
Well crap, I used head bolts(ARP) and torqued them to 83lbs. Should i pop open my valve covers and redo them at 75lbs? Car hasn't really been run much at all only cranked up a few times here and there to move it and tune it.
 

s383mmber1

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Oct 31, 2005
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You guys need to search, proper MHG torqueing has been covered more thank a million times on this forum...

Im not saying that overtorqueing the head gasket blew it, so dont think its your problem.
 

ill Z

Back on the Grind
Mar 18, 2007
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Alright Seriously? The time I did my install I read several complete rebuilds on the SM forums. The one I followed seemed to be the most technical and detailed out of them all and also coincided with most other's rebuilds. This is why I went with 83lbs on the Bolts. Personally, I have had very few issues after the reassembly which makes me feel extremely fortunate and also tells me the individual who did the write up knew what he was talking about.
 

s383mmber1

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ill Z said:
Alright Seriously? The time I did my install I read several complete rebuilds on the SM forums. The one I followed seemed to be the most technical and detailed out of them all and also coincided with most other's rebuilds. This is why I went with 83lbs on the Bolts. Personally, I have had very few issues after the reassembly which makes me feel extremely fortunate and also tells me the individual who did the write up knew what he was talking about.

Woah calm down there....

I never said YOU were wrong.

But following instructions helps quite a bit...
 

Saavedro88

Member
Jan 26, 2007
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Richmond VA
I wish there was one of those little Lego instruction manuals for our cars, that would be SWEET!!

So was 92 wrong? I should probably not do that again then eh?
 

st2b

Banned
Sep 15, 2006
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When we torqued the 83 with studs, we torqued them to around 75-80. That was a year ago I could be wrong. Then I blew the headgasket because I didn't have money for the Metal head gasket.

It took us about 3 days to do the head gasket, but that was when I was 14 so if you know how to do it it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Read the torque recommendations for the GE, that's what I would do.
 

ill Z

Back on the Grind
Mar 18, 2007
109
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USA
s383,

my bad dude, was not trying to come across as defensive. If I did I apologize. I guess I was thread jacking there just for a moment.
 

87nasupra

Scotty's Garage
Mar 2, 2006
993
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Jacksonville, FLORIDA !
did my BHG with stock toyota HG, arp studs torqued to 80 ft lbs. w/copper coating the stock HG. Nearly even compression across the board. Before when i dropped in my n/a jdm,compression numbers was all over the place and i just did a retorque on stock headbolts and stock HG.