There are a lot of factors here...is it a smogger?? is it a performance built motor??
I believe too much heat is the enemy. Too much heat can blow a head gasket and/or crack a head or block. It also kills the ring seal to the cylinders.
Many of the smog era motors ran in the 200-220 range for smog purposes only (extra heat will burn more of the unburned fuel), but a racing engine likes a cooler temp and makes more power.
On my race car, once the temp reaches 200, I shut it off and keep the electric water pump and fan going to cool it down!!...its gone the fastest when the water temp was 135-140.
Its a 460 bored and stroked to 532 and it keeps getting up to 210
OK i have a real problem now and its pissing me off. I've just gone through my 3rd pair of valve cover gaskets. Felpro rubber ones, i keep blowing them out. Passengerside on the front and driverside on the rear. I glued them down with RTV let them sit for a long time and made sure they were dry before doing the same on the other side to the head.
What the hell should i do? I have breathers on both sides of my motor too.
Seems like there is a lot of crankcase pressure!!...does it leak oil anywhere else, like front & rear crank seals or the pan gasket itself??
I use valve cover gaskets from "Earls"...you can get em from Summit. They have the rubber thats bonded to a steel shim frame and you cant overtighten them, plus they are reusable.
Check the surfaces on the valve covers, make sure they are not porous or rough.
I've had better luck with stock type cork gaskets from carquest. I use weather strip adhesive and only glue them to the valve cover, install with head side and head clean and dry. Randy.
Check the breathers on both sides to make sure they're not clogged or blocked. Do they always blow out like that when they blow? If so you're building alot of crankcase pressure in there for some reason as posted earlier. Some of the other causes of excessive crankcase pressure are excessive blow-by due to worn piston rings, a hole or crack in a piston crown, loose piston pin retainers, worn oil seals, cylinder head or end plate gaskets, or excessive exhaust back pressure. Also, the breather tube or crankcase ventilator should be checked for obstructions.
Have you changed something recently like the exhaust or muffler or catalytic converter? Did you port your heads or increase the flow of exhaust but not the exhaust system itself?
Just a quick sidebar: our internal combustion engines rely on heat as a key component for making power; they also react well to cooler air intake for making power...not necessarily cold operating temps. Also, cold operating temps, such as below ~160* water temperature, actually increases engine wear substantially.
Check the breathers and make sure that they don't have that foam crap inside of them. I bought some K&N air breathers and the engine kept leaking oil. When I took them off and looked inside them they had some kind of foam in them. I took that stuff out and have not had an oil leak since.
My breathers were breathing before cause i would see the steam coming out of them but i have to admit i haven't seen it do that in a while.
I kinda think its the rtv i am using can't handle the heat or something. i will check everything everyone has mentioned though. The original gaskets were leaking but not blowing out until i switched them and used a different rtv.
Check the breathers and make sure that they don't have that foam crap inside of them. I bought some K&N air breathers and the engine kept leaking oil. When I took them off and looked inside them they had some kind of foam in them. I took that stuff out and have not had an oil leak since.
I'll have to get some new gaskets and fix it on my next days off. I must be over tightening them cuase i don't want them to leak anymore. I don't know what to torque them down too so i just tighten them.
I run those same valve covers and those same gaskets with no silicon, I just lay the rubber gasket in place. I take a 1/4 inch ratchet that is very short and just snug the bolts. I haven't had them leak yet.
Yeah the first 2 minutes of the engine running steam used to come out of them, i haven't seen it in a long time though it was only after getting the motor together.
I am going to redo them, use blue rtv and just tighten them to what the torque required in a book tells me.
1/4" valve cover bolts only torque to 7 FT/Lbs, that's about what you can turn on a screwdriver handle......you have to leave enough movement in the gasket so it can expand and contract with the temperature changes.
Rob
1/4" valve cover bolts only torque to 7 FT/Lbs, that's about what you can turn on a screwdriver handle......you have to leave enough movement in the gasket so it can expand and contract with the temperature changes.
Rob
OK i am replacing the gaskets tomorrow, just going to hand tighten them i guess or use a torque wrench and torque them to the correct torque if i can find my book.
Dont know what thread this should be under but I'm having the hardest time ever finding valve covers. I have a 91 460 efi with E7TE-BD heads. They have the center bolt pattern and I cant find anything. And all google wants to give me is small block chevy. Anyone know where I can get ones? Dont...
Guys,
I have an in the works 521 and I'm trying to figure out what intake manifold I should use. Engines going in a 70 torino with a c-6 and 3.91 gears. Street /strip car
Build as follows:
521 10.7 compression ratio
D00E-R heads mild cleanup on exhaust
Solid lifter comp cams 34-652-5...
Hey all,
A buddy gave me these ported doves he got in a load of goodies from an estate sale. They have big valves (2.25 stock CJ/1.73 stainless). I have removed the valves and cleaned up the heads but now I'm noticing some previous damage (dropped exhaust valve by the looks of it) and some...
Refreshing my motor, after water in the fuel, and was wondering what head gaskets everybody uses. Felpro 1018, Felpro 520SD, or ? Iron heads, block, and 40 over. Max rpms 6500. C/R ~10.5:1
Have an EGR valve on my stock intake 85 or so vintage E250 Van engine 460ci. Want to remove the EGR and block off the exhaust opening on the intake and add a 1 inch spacer and then a Edelbrock carburetor. I know I can just leave the EGR in place disconnected as a spacer. But I'd like to not...
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