Well I got my edge comp drag box in and made it 1/2 mile down the road and blew the head gasket. 5x5 pulling out of the drive way. It was the best half mile of my life. So my truck is torn apart and i need some advise. I want to do this right so i was planning on this: Porting the head,14mm studs,fire ringing the block and the head. I figure it should cost aroud $3,000. Dose anyone know of a machine shop in Minnesota that does fire ringing? This is going to get expensive, becouse if i am pulling the motor i might as well put in the south bent duel disk clutch and the cam. That will be another $3,000. I plan on twins,hotrod vp,big injectors. any advise??? thanks Eric

 

I do not know of anyone in Minn, but Piers (www.piersdiesel.com) can set you up pretty quickly with a head, studs, gasket, and fire rings all ready to go.

When you get done, be sure to switch your coolant to Evans Cool to avoid cracking the head between the exhaust ports. The Evans Cool stops the internal head steam hammering that occurs with water based coolants when the 24 valve is really pulled hard.

Have fun.

 

How much boost are you planning on running? A stock head with a stock gasket is roughly good till 50 psi of boost, assmuing that you have re-torqued your head. O-rings are good to around 65-70psi. Fire ringing and o-ringing is usually the guys running big boost numbers. 14mm studs require machining the head and the block. ARP studs 12mm work well and require alot less work to install. I would just o-ring and stud your head. Make sure that your block is smooth and flat. The same goes for your head. I know that this is doesn't sound exotic, but it works for most applications.

 

just wondering...was your engine warmed up before you hammered on it?

 

As mentioned above the 14mm studs really are not required. The current shop truck is making in excess of 830 RWHP using O-rings and 12mm studs. You can pull the head and have it O-ringed, install studs, and use a good head gasket all for a fraction of the cost you are mentioning. If you are willing to ship your head we can O-ring your head and ship it back to you.

Give us a call if we can help you out in any way,

Doug Smith

 

What part of Minnesota?

Central is served by Torque Diesel. I'm not sure where they are hanging the shingle, but PM Spicyjam for more details.

South eastern is Amusement Ride aka Aron Howlett in Lacrosse, WI area.
email Amianthus@charter.net

Northern Minnesota is a crap shoot. The twin cities may be closer if on the east side.
West side is best to get over to Mike's Custom Trucks in Northwood, ND. Mike's can o-ring, fire ring, head plane, port, studs, SBC clutch, cam, injectors, etc.


PM or email me johne@gra.midco.net if you want more info or to discuss. I know all three pretty well. I live 45 miles from Mike's so that is my home base.

 

it was warmed up. I replaced the head gasket 6 mouths ago, it was leaking coolent, very minor. I know that what i want to do is a little over kill, but i dont know at what level i plan on stopping. Money really isnt any issue as i am 20 year old and dont have any thing else to spend my money on. I plan on twins, mach 6 or 7, hot rod vp, cam.. and the list goes on and on. I rather have the head over build rather then maxing it out every day.

Thanks for the advise
Eric

 

For the stuff you listed, you only need o-rings and 12mm studs. The trick is to get your block/head as straight and flat as you can get. Then plan three or four times of checking your head bolts for tightness. Once everything stops moving, hammer the heck out your motor. Have your motor upto normal running temp before laying down a 70psi run. If your gonna run NOS/propane/meth (together) and run big sticks then go your fire-ring route. I would be putting your money into good basic blueprinting of your block and head. If you shave your head, get an thicker gasket. I have a brand new head and it was pretty straight out of the box. The block took lots of work. All so check your valve lash after re-torque. They seem to change after the head has been re-torqued.