tireboil23

I have an eighy seven notchback I,ve been tooling with for a couple years,my last run on street tires poped out a 13.20 @ 104.32mph, anyway I'm having problems keeping head gaskets intacked. I been running Roushes cast iron windsor head and I'm aware of some casting problems found in alot of the production assemblies. I was wondering if any other viewers of this site have heard or know first hand of any problems with the head. I've changed gaskets twice now with no success.The head checks out fine with a machinist strait edge,and has never been too hot. Perhaps I should take them to a machinist for a second opinion.
Any knowledge of this problem in Roush heads would be extremly apprieciated.

roundman

are you using new head bolts when you replace the head gaskets??? stock Ford head bolts are "torque to yield" and are only good for use one time as they stretch to the yield point and cannot be properly re-torqued a second time. if you get some ARP head bolts, they can be reused as often as needed and are much stronger too.

tireboil23

actually have arp studs they have been torqued twice,and i always use the copper spray sealer. but for some reason it still blows exaust into the water jackets.

roundman

are you sure it's the head gasket and not a cracked cylinder wall that's letting the exhaust into the water jackets???

tireboil23

That's something I'll have to look at. I did get the motor out of a wrecked gt. seems like I never had the problem before the roush heads,but that doesn't expell the possibility. maybe it's time to start on my other short block. I have a set of speed pro 410 domes i've been dying to use in my other block. last time I had the heads off I inspected the cylinder walls but I suppose it could be small enough that I can't see it without magnafluxing the block. It's just strange to me the way it runs fine and never overheats,but after running hard through third and fourth it builds just enough pressure in the water jackets to pop open the radiater cap for long enough to blow out the exaust air. anyway the problem is delaying my bottle dreams. my goal is mid 12 on motor and high 11 on bottle.so close yet so far away.Thank you for your insite roundman I guess if I want to woop this problem it's time to tear down and inevestigate all possibilities and quit gawking at the head.

roundman

a fellow racer told me about finding a cracked cylinder wall in his race motor. what he did to confirm it was remove one spark plug at a time and run the engine and watch the empty spark plug hole. when he saw water shooting out, he knew he had found the cylinder with the hairline crack in it even though a compression test wouldn't show it. you might try this and see if it helps you any.