yeah what a job.i sure hope nothing leaks and you don't forget anything!

 

It's gonna be an awesome feeling once she fires up I can tell ya that

I had a 2 week down time when I did my head gaskets. Sure was happy when I got back behind the wheel of it

 

Looks good. I will be a good feeling when it comes alive. Now that you had practice you can do my 86 van. Good luck,

Chet

 

well boys, SHE'S ALIVE!!
it turns out i left the #2 injector line loose, and that was the ONLY leak its had so far tightened it down and all was well.

i didn't bother with bleeding the injector lines, but didn't have that much trouble getting it going. on the second 20-30 second round of cranking, i had it firing on one cylinder, on the third round of cranking i had it firing on several but not fully running yet, and on the 4th round i got it to stay running by itself at WOT, though it would stall if i let off. after 15 or 20 seconds of running that way, it smoothed out. then it stalled cause the rear tank still isn't working quite right, but thats a whole nother problem. switched to the front, and she fired up in another 15 seconds of cranking

now i just need to put on all the body stuff up front, tranny cooler, etc. of course, i wanted to fire it up as soon as possible, and who needs a tranny cooler or a bumper for a first start

 

and bonanza, i do work as a mobile mechanic, serving the greater seattle area, not too sure about california
if the need came, i would do the whole thing again - but hopefully not on my own rig - 3 weeks out of business has sucked!!

 

I DROVE IT TODAY and its running great. looking at the smoke when it was cold, i figured i had a little too much timing advance, compared to numbers i'd pulled a few months back and where i remembered it being. so tonight i checked it, and got 12.6 @ 2000 rpm, i pulled it back to 9.4 and called it close enough for now.
it really feels like a whole different van now - the tranny shifts on time now, which it never used to, must have been an bad VRV on the old IP, and now that i had a different IP rebuilt, the VRV that came with it is fine. now i'm in 3rd gear before i hit 30 if i'm light on the pedal - it used to be that i could force it into 3rd at 42, or it would go by itself around 45.

 

that must feel good to be done with that.might get a little more fuel economy out of her by the sounds of the side fix too.that never hurts.

 

Glad to here it came out so good. Didn't know you were a mobil mechanic.

 

well boys, sorry to resurrect my ancient thread after not being around in awhile, but i just blew it again.
the rear of the left head gasket blew out pretty bad on saturday, gasket was visibly torn as seen with the engine assembled, got the head off that side and learned a new trick along the way that i thought i'd share, just in case anybody else dares pull a head with the engine installed in a van.
1) early in this thread when taking it apart, i remember fighting with clearance to get a couple of the pushrods and head bolts out of the head while on the engine in the van. this time i knew to expect that and had an idea. i jacked up the engine and removed the right engine mount, then lowered the engine until it rested with the right exhaust manifold touching the frame, then started removing the left head. i had plenty of space to extract all the pushrods and head studs before dislodging the head itself. and that'll make it manageable to install the head with it in the body.

as for how my day went with it blowing up, fired it up in the morning, got a few miles down the road and noticed my heater core blowing steam all over my windshield, not horribly but enough to be a problem. i stopped and took a pair of vise grips to pinch off its hoses, then got back on the road. a few miles later my wife screams at me that there's hot coolant gushing out at her feet. i stop again and fully bypass the heater core, fill it up with water, and get back on the road, and drive to where i'm going. heading back home in the evening i stopped about 20 miles into the drive to hit a drive-thru, and the temp crawled up to 240 but came right back down as soon as i started moving again. whatever, must have had air on the electric fan thermostat, nothing to worry about. well several miles later i start hearing this popping noise from my engine, which seems to respond to changes in engine speed and throttle position. i'm not sure about it yet, so i drive on as it slowly gets louder. several miles from home my wife asks about it, and i tell her i'm not sure but i'll figure it out when i get home. well i parked it, left it idling and got out, heard it pretty loud standing at my door, but quieter when looking in the hood. stuck my head under the van to look at the back of the engine, and i can see air/exhaust blowing out of the head gasket every time that piston came up. and the next night i started tearing her down.

so far i've verified that the head is perfectly straight, and i cleaned up the surface pretty nice, only very minor pitting around the water jackets in a couple places. should be ready to bolt back on. only concern i noticed is some cracks in the pre-cups around the hole, i'm guessing this is normal but would like confirmation on that

it seems fel-pro is the only brand of gaskets i see listed at the stores, are they known for having a weakness on these engines, and is something else better, or does my problem appear to be unrelated to the quality of gaskets? the first time i did the job (for those who don't read back), i had the block and heads resurfaced, and used ARP studs, so there's no reason there for a failure.

well boys, wish me luck

 

What torque were your studs at the first time?

 

That is great information to know if and when I need to do that job on my IDI van.

 

The first time around I torqued the heads to 80 ft-lbs as recommended my arp and the service manual for the 6.9 with its 7/16 studs. Some of the guys on the thread were thinking of their 7.3s with 1/2" studs and thought that sounded a bit low, but I think it's correct. Might try 85 this time though

And as for lowering the engine to better remove the head, doing as I did was right for removing the left head, and the opposite would be right for the other head. In each case removing the opposite mount to have more space on top of the engine on the side we're focused on.

 

I would take them to at least 100. Ive tested those studs, and they don't stretch until 130ft/lbs. People have taken them to 110ft/lbs with no issue. The 6.9 studs at 85ft/lbs have less clamping force than stock 7.3 head bolts.


Probably good to do a retorque after some good heat cycles as well.

 

Good information Racin. How far did you take yours? Hole 130 or the 110? With this info I think I would take mine to the 110 at least. And to the OP I'd bring the other side up as well now that you have had heat cycles.

 

I took mine to 105. That was before I tested the studs, and I was real weary of taking them beyond that. Knowing what I know, if I was to ever build a 6.9 again, The studs would be at 110 in a heartbeat.


Arp has their recommended torque settings way lower than Yield for CYA purposes. Ive talked to people at ARP about it, and they essentially told me the same thing. As long as you are less than 15% of yield, there should be no issues, that's why we can get away with such over-torque.


The head stud thread has all the details if you are interested in a read.