So I finally got the car into the shop and put a chemical tester on the coolant system and its showing that it is leaking at an idle. I have a cometic steel gasket in it now that only lasted a few thousand kms and am wondering how the fel-pro gasket would hold up. I'm assuming its an oem replacement gasket but I have an extra one leftover from my gasket kit I purchased and didn't know how that would hold up. If someone can give a little insight as the machine shop that built my motor said the fel-pros aren't a bad gasket but he just wasn't very familiar with my motor and how the gasket would hold up.
Well after some research...I'm gonna run the felpro but actually have the head torqued properly for the arp studs. If I get the summer out of it I'll be more than happy. I may even turn the boost down a bit but 13psi isn't really that high anyways. Someday I may pull the head, port and polish and go back to a cometic but I'll have to wait and see how things go.
What torque is the head tightened down to now? Also did you use the correct lube for the studs? I have heard with the cometic you need to torque the head down to 85 ft lbs or it will leak. I plan on running a fel-pro in mine it held up fine with 11.37-1 compression so im gonna get another and throw boost its way. Unless I bite the bullet for a copper gasket lol.
Well the head studs were only torqued to OEM specs which I think is around 40ft/lbs. But the test showed the gasket is bad, and I was having a fair amount of white smoke one day. I am just going to throw the fel pro in and torque it to the 85 ft/lbs with the moly lube. I think I should be good to go. Then hopefully get the car to the track and see what it will run.
Matthew Jollymore wrote:Well the head studs were only torqued to OEM specs which I think is around 40ft/lbs. But the test showed the gasket is bad, and I was having a fair amount of white smoke one day. I am just going to throw the fel pro in and torque it to the 85 ft/lbs with the moly lube. I think I should be good to go. Then hopefully get the car to the track and see what it will run.
this is why the gasket failed..........
01' Z24 5 speed
422whp/400wtq
T4 Turbocharged
Built LD9
HP Tuners
Yeah that is what I'm assuming
from what I have heard from people with your problem they had leaking problems until they re-tightened the head and the leak vanished. Seems like a lot of work for a maybe though.
LOL come on man the gasket is fine... the loose head studs are allowing the head to LIFT under the boost!!!
tear it down, snug the studs to 85 ft pounds and call it a day.
Its leaking at an idle now...they tested it and said there was coolant leaking when they had it idling in the shop. Since we are going to be that far I'm just gonna change it.
if you didnt torque the studs properly per arp's specs then they have probably have backed off some.
Well I got a call from the shop..they got it apart. Seems the studs were torqued pretty tight (the guy figured around 70ft/lbs) but the gasket failed around the #1 cylinder...have a cam tower gasket coming monday and then it should be up and running again.
well thats gay. whats the thickness of it?
Yeah I wasn't very happy about it. I had the 0.030" gasket. As soon as I saw the gasket I could tell it had failed and my oil had signs that there was coolant there. So got the oil drianed and getting it back together. But head studs are now torqued to 85ft/lbs so hopefully I'll have better luck this time.
my felpro failed around 13-14psi, swapped in a cometic stock thickness gasket and threw 25psi at it.
Buy my stuff!!! CLICK
R.I.P. Brian Klocke, you will never be forgotten
iirc some people were still having leaking problems when torqued to 70 ft lbs but it didnt mean the gasket was bad. Either way I hope the Fel-pro works out for you.
Well it was visible on the gasket where it was leaking...there was a fair amount of finish on the gasket that had been eaten off around the #1 cylinder. After 10 hours of labour so far (and its still not all together) I didn't want to take the risk of having to tear it all apart again. I guess I'll see how the fel pro holds up to my 13psi.
Yeah it is a pain in the butt to change out.
pics of said damaged cometic....
I'll have to get some when I pick the car up
DON'T USE A FEL-PRO!
Learn from my experience!
1. Fel-Pro: Failed at 14 psi from small turbo. Smoked up the highway during a tuning run.
2. GM gasket: Failed at 14 psi from big turbo.
3. Cometic (dry): Never really sealed properly, constant cooling system issues observed, turned into full hardcore leaking months later.
4. Cometic (w/copper spray): PERFECT, better than ever before!
2001 Olds Alero (LD9)
650 whp / 543 ft-lb
@turboalero
FURTHERMORE
Cylinder 1 was also my primary failure location every time.
Torque your ARP studs (all of them) to 85 ft-lb in THREE steps.
After talking to Cometic, ARP, and various engine builders, I finally got my head to seal reliably using the information above.
2001 Olds Alero (LD9)
650 whp / 543 ft-lb
@turboalero
Matthew Jollymore wrote:Well I finally got a call and the car was ready. I've got a few pics of the cometic gasket. As for the felpro, after almost 300kms of pretty hard driving the car is running great. Man I love 300whp, it feels awesome, especially when I can spin all the way through second now and hitting 3rd and it pulls so hard. Anyways, I may turn the boost down a bit for daily driving but I'll definitely run the 13psi at the track and see what the car runs. Anyways, I'll get some videos in the next few days.
spinning aint winning, get some sticky tires on that car....
01' Z24 5 speed
422whp/400wtq
T4 Turbocharged
Built LD9
HP Tuners
i beleive your failure was due to not torquing down the studs properly the first time... the resulting loseness allowed the head to move under boost damaging the gasket, additionally, Clyde has reported that he went through three cometic gaskets where coolant leaked through the layers, copper spray is the best way to prevent this...
FWITW, i'm running a GM Gasket... I've heard nothing but fail about the felpro gaskets, and decided OEM was the best choice for my build... (The cometic .030 gave me .020 piston to valve clearance, and the .70ish cometic defeated the purpose of my head being decked... )
Publikdstrbnce wrote:
spinning aint winning, get some sticky tires on that car....
I've got some drag radials for the track. I just need to play with my launch a bit, at about 3/4 throttle it hooks but at WOT it likes to spin. But my car hooks way better than the guy that tuned my car, his will try to spin in 3rd as well, but he's running 450whp on the street and it likes to spin at the track in 4th even, but he runs 600whp on race fuel there. I'm hoping I have better luck with the new gasket. Gonna turn the boost down to 12psi or so and see how that goes. I'm thinking my original issue was the head stud torque as well.
