mdnite92Z28

My grandfather, father, and I just recently finished a top end rebuild, only to have to dig back into the beast again. We originally went in to replace the valve seals (blue smoke), and found a lot of grunge and built up oil in the lifter valley (it was like chocolate cake icing, i mean geez), we put in new lifters, and everything else was in good shape (one tough 305). When we put it back together my grandfather put the headgaskets in with the writing side (side that said "FelPro") down facing the block, and flat side facing the head. When we started the motor we noticed an overheating problem, and extreme loss of power. A trusted local mechanic (didn't ask us to bring it in so he could charge us out the wazoo) told us that it sounded like a headgasket problem, namely an improperly installed one. Is it possible for the headgasket for an LB9 305 to be installed upside down, both sides look somewhat similar. Symptoms were, overheating, detonation, and coolant shooting out of the radiator like a shotgun blast after 5 or so minutes of running (had the cap off to make sure engine sucked in the coolant). Any ideas fellas?

Dr.NickRiviera

did you use any of that sealant goo?

mdnite92Z28

after tearing down the engine again, Yea, looks like my grandfather got a little happy with the sealer goo. Some of it even made its way into the combustion chamber where i found burnt residue on the valves. We're in the process of putting it back together now and have the heads and new gaskets back on, this time with no liquid sealant, just the gaskets, and dad, grandpa, and I are double checking each other with everything to avoid any surprises again.
Thanks for the reply

25THRSS

Sealer on the head is a :nono: You also have to torque them down properly with a torque wrench in a criss cross pattern.

mdnite92Z28

Yea you're definately right about that, we fired it up yesterday, no sealant on the headgasket and it ran much better, except for one problem. It's knocking, and the knock increases with RPM, and that means, yea you guessed it, a connecting rod. Some luck eh, rebuild the top half and right when you get it running again your fealing of triumph turns to mortal defeat when the bottom half decides to give . We're shopping around for prices on a rebuild, or shortblock, not sure how it's going to go, we're low on funds as it is, and can't exactly freeze the project for winter because our landlord checks for inspection stickers (no sticker, get it off the property). There are ways i can get around that though if worse comes to worse.
My grandfather suggested we sell it for what we can get out of it and move on with our lives. My dad and I thought it out so far and did some math. We'd probably be able to sell it for $1000 or less, the knock is rather loud and it needs new paint, has a slight exhaust leak etc. etc.. But we already have over $3150 in the car including the too-good-to-be-true asking price of $1500 ( should have seen all this coming).but if this rebuild goes too far over a grand, well I'll post something on the General Tech board.
Thanks for the replies , and yes i've learned a few valuable lessons from my first top end tear down
A. Never,Never, Never use sealant goo on a headgasket (grandfather learned this more than i did)
B. Never, Never get your hopes up, just because you've finished one project (top end) doesn't mean that you'll be able to enjoy and drive the car soon, because a new funny noise will suddenly rear it's ugly head.