THE GENERAL

g'day guys,
first of this is my first post, so g'day:)
ive ventured over from some holden forums, im a holden man through and through, am currently building an ls1 powered vp clubsport .
but i still respect and like a lot of the"enemies" cars...hehe
anyways enough talking crap.

how much have you been charged to replace your head gaskets on your e series inline 6's?
im currently looking at buying a friends 92 NC fairlane ghia (4 litre) for a very good price because it has a blown head gasket.
im thinking of buying it, getting the gasket done, getting a rwd and selling it for a small profit.
the car has only done 170xxxkms, and the head was replaced a few years ago.
cheers.

notty

firstly welcome to FF.com

secondly
it sounds like you are probly pretty mechanically minded you will notice that i can lift heavy things but i cant spell any good hahaha

anyway if you can do it your self you are looking at between probly $300 too $800 depending on how bad the head is or not and also how well you know your engine builder!
threw my engine builder i had my head
straightened
welded up the cracks
new ss valves
crane heavy duty springs
k liners
valve seats and seals
little port job (falcons need **** all if you go over board the engine will go back wards)
decked
combustion chambers match (cc balanced)
complete gasket set
and head bolts
set me back $500 cash but i spend bout 40grand a year at my engine builder with my boat engines so yeah you could say he did a pretty good deal probly because i have basically payed his house off for him!
cheers

atec77

LAst one was $150.00 for headbolts and decoke kit , less than $100.00 to machine the head flat and about 8 hours to do removal valve grind and out it back .

THE GENERAL

thanks guys.
i went and checked out the car today, it drives well, its flowing water out of the exhaust and is smokey, is that indicative of a blown head gasket?, or could it be something else?

notty

that doesnt sound good mate
usaully when they have a blown head gasket they dont actually get water in the pots and blowing smoke is a complete diffrent story!
when a falcon blows a head gasket it usaully leaks out the side of the head down the engine block and you can see a white stain from the head where it seeps out!
also if you do a head gasket it is mandatory to get the radiator done at the same time because the radiator will be full of block sand!

jas24zzk

No quite true.
The most common place for the E series to blow, is either Number 1 or 6 direct into the pot.
Have seen this several times. When it happened to me personally, and i was unable to turn the engine over, due to a FULL #1 on the compression stroke. Pulling the plug, and winding it over to squirt the coolant out the plug hole, got it running enough to get it home.( i did put the plug back in)

The other common thing on these is Broken headbolts. Many mechanics do not replace them on headgasket jobs, and they fail. They are tension to torque bolts and MUST be replaced if they are undone.
Cheers
Jas

notty

as for the filling the pot thing!
you will oviously know straight away if it blows the gasket there and it will be practically undriveable but seens he said the car drove fine then i think its a bit diffrent to that!
if a falcon blows into a pot it uassually just stops and hydraulics!