I am in the process of replacing the head gaskets on my 81. Apparently this was an issue on the early cars, and mine have been leaking for quite a few years now. All 8 of my jugs are very tight, but the seal between the block and head where the coolant flows has broken down. 20 years of turbocharging probably hasn't helped either.

I ordered a gasket set from 928 Specialist. Service was promp and the price was right. It is a Victor Reinz (sp?) complete set. I have no clue where it all goes, but I am about to find out. I never knew there was so much crap on the top side of a 928 motor, guess that is why they run so nicely. There must be 100 pieces in the set...I probably won't use 1/2 of it.

 

I have to do this too. Same problem as yours. No coolant in the oil or ATF, car runs fine, but its seeping coolant thru the top of the head between 1 & 2 cyl. on the drivers side head into the valley. I've just been topping it off every 500 miles or so. Its getting to the point where its worring me to keep doing this so I am going to do the job. Now if the weather would cooperate...

Are you removing the motor or are you gonna just pull off the heads?

 

Is there any value to re-torquing the cylinder head-bolts WYAIT painting the cam covers and intake parts? It seems that they are accessible at the moment.

Would this be a good idea? or a bad idea? <img border="0" alt="[ouch]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" />

I've had a few bad ones that sounded good at the time! <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" />

 

Uh, Brian, I think you should re-torque the heads if you replace the head gasket(s).
I'd definitely have the valve covers powder coated as well as the intake WYAI.

 

John,

While your in there you should fire ring your block since you are running forced induction. Aren't you still planning on cranking-up the boost?

Jim

 

Brian,

I've heard that you SHOULD NOT <img border="0" alt="[nono]" title="" src="graemlins/nono.gif" /> re-torque the head bolts in general. If I remember correctly, I was told that new head-bolts are designed to “stretch” to a point during the torque process and therefore should not be re-torque.

Now I’m not sure if this applies to all MY 928’s but this is what I was told when I had my heads pulled to replace both head gaskets.

O’h…YMMV <img border="0" alt="[ouch]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[ouch]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[ouch]" title="" src="graemlins/c.gif" />

<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

 

What does "fire ring" mean?

 

I was wondering about doing a re-torque of the head bolts also, I just sent the intake and cam covers to Crosslink in Dallas for stripping and powder coating, I thought this would be a good time but on the 32 valve motor it looks like the cams have to be removed to access the bolts.

 

Believe the factory manual says to torque the head bolts, let them sit (not running) for thirty minutes, then loosen and retorque. Worked on my 78.

I would recommend having the heads checked for warpage, valve guide wear and valve seats wear WYAIT.

Dennis

 

OK... I just meant to inquire about re-torquing the bolts of otherwise untouched heads, while the cam covers are off. The reason that I ask is that, like Tim, I think I have heard that it is a BAD idea.

 

John,
See the following discussion:
<a href="http://forums.rennlist.com/cgi-bin/rennforums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=002826#000000" target="_blank">http://forums.rennlist.com/cgi-bin/rennforums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14 ;t=002826#000000</a>

Regarding the re-torque
- Don't re-torque!
- Be aware of two types of head bolts! - The black and the golden - The black to be tighten according to torque, and the golden to be tighten according to angle - See the Shop Manual
The black (stiff) bolts can be changed to the golden (elastic) bolts, and that's recommendable

 

I am going in without taking the engine out of the car. I hope this won't be too big of an issue with the 8 valve heads I have.

Anyway, I went with a Victor Reinz gasket set. I thought about doing some stuff with the head or block for a better seal, but I have heard that some of the wire type gaskets can brinell the head, so I don't want to risk it.

I built my own leak down tester and I will be testing the motor tonight to see where the potential leaks are. Jug 1 was a little lower than the rest, so I think there may be some issues. I hope it is something simple....

My engine also has the infamous "between cyliner one and two leak", so it is time. I am going in to replace a rack and rebuild the turbos, so this is the opportunity to replace those 22 year old head gaskets. I trust the gasket set I bought will last.

Goal is 12 psig after I get her all tightened up. My car gets maybe 2000 miles per year, so I hope it will last.

 

John, while I'm not the "Guru" some are on the List, When I got down to actually taking off the heads, this is what I noted.
1. While there is room to remove the heads, it is very difficult to keep the lifters from falling out, because of the angle and limited clearance. You want to keep them (lifters) in exact order.
2. It will be even more difficult to get them in (heads), without the lifters falling out.
3.Once I got that far, it was only about 45 minutes to pull the engine block out of the car, because just about everything had already been removed or disconnected just to get the heads off.
It will be much easier to reassemble the engine and reinstall. Erik told me to pull it in the first place. I figured it would be easier and quicker just to pull the heads. I was wrong. There is very limited clearance in removing the cam cover bolts, and a couple of them would almost be impossible to use a torque wrench when reinstalling them. Keep us posted of your progress as we can all learn from your experience. I wish you well in your current endeavor. <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

Anthony Tate
79/928 Silver Metallic
(having minor head surgery)

 

There is a trick to putting the lifters back into the engine.

VASOLINE!!!

Don't laugh. You take a big vat of vasoline and put it and the lifters into the freezer. Once it is good and cold, you smear it all over the lifters and then put them back into the cam housing. Then place the cam housing back onto the heads and proceed. The ice-cold vasoline is like tar, but as soon as you start the motor it is gone. I would then run the engine for a little while and drain the oil, which is always a good idea after doing head gaskets anyway.

I used this method on my 944 and it worked like a champ!

I once made the mistake of going to this guys house to hang out. I didn't really know him, but I went over with a friend nonetheless. He insisted we all go to his room and "talk". He rented a bedroom in this old house. So there we were, in the room hanging out. I looked on top of the dresser and nearly PUKED!!! There was a HUGE (i.e. economy size) tub of vasoline up there. He then started asking for phone numbers and the like. We were out of there fast man, and I mean like twin turbo 928 FAST! He then proceeded to stalk me until he was fired for harrassing and spreading rumors about me at the gym where I worked out and he worked as an employee.

Just another example of one of the many uses for Vasoline. Yes, both stories above are totally true. Any similarity to events in your life may or may not be totally coincidential.

 

Good idea!!!

for those with leaking head gaskets, I had a HUGE leak outward in my #2-3 cylinder area. I would put a quart of coolant in my valley in a race. now, I used a large can of barr's stop leak, and it worked like champ. dont even hesitate to use it. Raced for a season and a half, before I tore it down and rebuilt with the 5.0L. by the way, radiator, block, all were perfect. its a wifes tail that that stuff has ANY negative effects. pretty amazing stuff. Remeber, it worked under extreme racing conditions too@!!!!
MK