cammedlx

that was a little off topic there now wansen't it j/k and i think detenation can come from a lean conditon too im not really sure so if im wrong don't call me a dumbass it was just a guess

roundman

most likely the gasket blew due to detonation caused by extremely high cylinder pressure for some reason. could be timing was too high for the octane gas being used or any number of other things. overheating was the other thing md was saying could have caused it btw. it's easier to do with aluminum heads on a iron block as the two metals expand at different rates, but I think you said you still had the stock iron heads. blown head gaskets are much more a problem with the small block Ford engine since they only have 4 head bolts around each cylinder while the small block Chevy design uses 5 bolts around each one, the major difference between the two btw. running lean could have also contributed to burning out the gasket, since your pics show it was blown between two cylinders where the gasket is the thinest and weakest too. and like I mentioned earlier, could have been the other owner reused the head bolts when he shouldn't have and they didn't provide the proper clamping force to hold the head tight. a warped head surface could also cause this, so next time you have the heads off check the gasket surface for flatness using a true straight edge and some feeler gauges. lots of times when a head gasket blows, it's a good idea to have the heads surface ground to make sure they are flat and to impart the proper surface roughness to properly hold onto the head gasket too. I wouldn't lose any sleep over not changing both gaskets either. The compressed gasket height is fairly standard if you used stock head gaskets, so both sides of the engine will be seeing the same compression ratio if you didn't mill the head.

LOVEMY88GT

well i have the timing advanced and then i tryed to get cheap for gas for a few tank fulls so that is prob what did it damn. Well now i am only running 93 nothing less. And it seems to run really good. I noticed that it would try to ping alot when i used the other gas and then all of the sudden one night when i was driving it i had it in forth gear and i started to give it gas and i started to hear this pinging sound. So i did it alittle more to see where it was coming from and when I got to my street (where my house is) it started to shake like crazy and then it lost all kinds of power and the next day it started to smoke really bad. It runs runnin really rough too. Now it is runnin pretty good but every once and a while i notice it does that shaking thing for a few seconds (just alittle) and then it is fine. If it was something mechanical it would do it all the time so i am wondering if maybe one of my injectors is alittle bit plugged up or one of my spark plugs is arching sometimes. Hmm well as long as it runs good like it is now untill i put it away this winter then i am happy. Well i hope for the best.