jaisonm

Hey gang, new member here but I could sure use some help. I recently purchased a 67 Mustang coupe with a 289. Its got a 4 barrel Holley Carb, but other than that its Stock. My issue is this. The engine was overheating, so we replaced both the water pump and the radiator. No more overheating, but a pure white smoke pours out of the oil breather after the engine warms up. When I say pours, I mean a lot...

So I am thinking.. Maybe the head gasket is blown? Cracked head or block? I don't think its blowby, because of the white smoke.. Am I wrong? What steps should I take? I'd appreciate any and all advice. Thanks in advance!

- Jaison

JMD

Welcome to the Forum!!

I think that your thinking is probably right, unfortunately. Probably the heads or the gaskets, blocks seldom fail due to overheat but they can... I have seen a person put brand new heads on an overheat engine, only to discove that a cylinder was cracked also...

Might be a good opportunity to get some aftermarket heads?

RolandT3Speed

Yes. You'll have to pull the heads and hope it's only a gasket. (And it probably is!)

jaisonm

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm feeling pretty confident in my diagnosis, but we'll soon see. In the meantime, I've managed to find a 302 for sale pretty cheap. Any idea if I can use the heads from the 302 on my 289? Will it bolt right on?

Also, as for the head gasket... Any paticular ones I should shoot for? I usually buy Fel-Pro, stick with them? How much do these run?

My plan so far is to tear into the engine, replace the head gaskets (and intake gasket) and reassemble. Fire her up, go for a cruise and pray for no smoke. If she smokes, I'll have to look at swapping the heads, or getting new ones...

Would you guys just get new heads now, since I'll have the old ones out anyway? How much would a new set of heads run? (not aluminum ones, trying to be somewhat money concious here...) Should I use the ones from the 302? So many options.... Thanks guys!

- Jaison

JMD

The 302 heads will work, and I am a fan of Fel-Pro as well....

jlg2002

Not trying to rain on your parade but it's also possible that your fried your piston rings with the overheating. Before I'd tear it apart, I'd do a cylinder leakdown test (pressurizes the cylinder with air for a specific time period) to see if it can pinpoint a cause. Typically when you have a leak of the water system into the cranckcase, you will see a vanilla looking sludge on the inside of the rocker covers and oil fill cap. If you got that, better plan on an engine overhaul. Atminimum, you need to look for cracks in the block and the piston rings while you have it apart.
I've used Fel pro gskts for years, they work great.

JMD

While a leakdown test is probably a good idea, I don't think I would base whether or not to do an overhaul on an engine because it has some cottage cheese in it.... It might need a complete overhaul or it might not.

If the op were to try the headsfirst, and they didn't do the job, he would be out a few hours work and a set of gaskets,,,, I would roll the diceif the engine looks good when the heads come off.

Ring and cylinder damage (other than scoring which is really obvious) are really not that common on overheats, in my experience anyway.

jaisonm

Would you guys recommend any other work be done while I have the engine down to the heads though? I think the head gasket set will take care ofthe smoke.($70 for the Felpro kit from Advance Auto for the curious). ShouldI get some work done on the heads while its out?

Also, I discovered that the electric choke on my carb isn't working quite right. Its a Holley 600 CFM, and it never seems to open quite right. I'm thinking of getting a new carb, as this one seems shot, but I've toyed with the idea of trying to rebuild it. Any success with that? Will a rebuild kit affect the electric choke at all? Engine runs great when I open the choke up, but once it closes, she has a hard time starting and staying alive.... Thanks all!

- Jaison

JMD

While I think it may be overkill to rebuild your engine after a bad overhead, I think it is a good idea to have the heads checked over very carefully.. Look over the cylinder bores for scratches, gouges, etc. Run a straight edge across the cylinder deck to check for square...

USMCrebel

if its smoking real bad, make sure that tranny fliud isnt leaking on your exhaust...i had this problem, but if its not that i would tear the block down, i've seen things go wrong when everyhting was "OK", then a massive failurehappens, which couldv'e been prevented by tearing the block down and having it checked out, and a rebuild kit is pretty cheap.... and its good experience anyways.