94EG8

The headgasket part number is definitely right.

VTECwalka

I'n my experience, NEVER over torque things. Really all it is doing to pushing down on the gasket causing it to expand more than it should and eventually cause cracking. Been there.

strategy400

Thats a nasty lookin' mill.

DrkHrse

isnt anyone using the head studs by ARP, everyone just reusing the stock stretch bolts?

Rage97

Obviously you do not need a lot of HP to rev your car or drive it fast, I was clearly making a educated guess that you could be doing that, even if you do not have a lot of HP you can still drive your car fast and at a hot temp.... please be more specific when telling us about your problems. Out of every time that you have replaced your HG how many miles did it take for each one to blow? (everyone that you have replaced) Do you have your car at high RPMs when you are driving? is it manual or automatic?

94EG8

Most people get 6 months to a year out of a D15B7/D15B8 headgasket. It seems like once they blow once they just keep blowing.

It's a D15B8, they only came mated to a manual trans.

DrkHrse

i just heard from machine shop they had to take 6thousandths off of it.

car had 140k on when the first went and now 2 years later at 160k

And like i said the car doesnt have a tach so i cant tell you how high it has been. Its never hit rev limiter if it has one on this old model.

furious94ls

I know a lot of people like to save money, or think they are saving money when going with aftermarket over OEM, but budget for it. You really have to stick with OEM for seals/gaskets. Do it right the first time. Now it's costing a lot more.

DrkHrse

with the oem 3 layer gasket does honda recommend torque head let sit over night break loose and retorque?

94EG8

No. I would probably use the torque specs for a D16Z6 though.

DrkHrse

im looking at the arp studs n they say 60ftlbs

94EG8

That's probably about right for studs. Stock headbolts are 53ft-lbs for the Z6 and 49ft-lbs for the D15B7/D15B8 IIRC.

DrkHrse

would you recommend the studs at $100 compared to the price of new oem bolts

94EG8

For the price difference (which as I recall was pretty negligible) I'd go with the headstuds. IIRC ARP uses a 12 point 13mm nut so you may want to make sure you have some 12 point sockets.

DrkHrse

i got the tools thats not my worry. its having to redo this again. whats the chances the blocked warpped also?

94EG8

Probably reasonable enough. I've seen fair number seem to have the sleeves ever so slightly raised or sunk below the deck surface. Doesn't really show up with a straight edge, but you can catch your fingernail between the two.

EGxBoostFiend

Check it. Mine block's warped all to hell, but that happened because it got really hot. You don't hear it happening much. I did 3 Headgaskets before i figured out that was what it was.

DrkHrse

3 that gets expensive. could you see your block warped with a straight edge?

So as long as the sleeves feel good i should be good? it didnt get really hot this time or the last.

owneyboy

iTrader: (1)

*BLOCKS are super hard to warp so i doubt it is uneven* although its unlikely but possible

you're over thinking things... i would PERSONALLY use ARP headstuds just because they are for the most part reusable if you properly torque them... and a better design all the "torque" force is going onto nut instead of bolt heat which takes more energy to torque.. i only recommended honda OEM because its the best... and felpro (blue autozone/orielly) brand offers 1 year warranty replacement.


when torquing your head down clean out the thread in block with carb cleaner "chase/thread" in old bolts just to remove left over liquid. make sure there no "crap" on your surface deck clean off with sandpaper or razor (carefully) sometimes the graphite material sticks to the surfaces and you need to scrape off the black residue. once everything is completely clean and ready torque your studs/bolts as SPECIFIED BY MANUFACTURED NOT YOUR FRIENDS KNOWLEDGE!!! LUBE put oil on washer part and under bolt head/nut then torque the bolts in ORDER FROM INNER TO OUTER let it set for about 30 mins or overnight if possible and just make sure they are at FACTORY specs (this is to insure that the studs/bolts are correct torque specs)

adelsoPS

I'd recommend using OEM. Also what hasn't been discussed is the other parts of your cooling system that could have failed, water pump, thermostat, radiator... Might want to look into that in addition to getting the head resurfaced and installed with a nice OEM head gasket.

This should help prevent premature failure

DrkHrse

when i did the hg the first time i did water pump, timing belt, thermostat.

DrkHrse

with the shop taking .006 off the head will i need to run 2 gaskets or just one?

95streetciv

NO
Have you ever heard of anyone running 2 head gaskets?
It doesn't work like that.

You could get a thicker gasket if you order from some place like Cometic that has custom gaskets.
Thats if your trying to retain stock compression.
Otherwise compression will be raised slightly with a stock gasket.

DrkHrse

i wasnt sure but i thought i would ask.

strategy400

I'm at ~60k ~1 year of heavy abuse on a B7 headgasket replacement and so far so good. Had block decked and head milled though (engine rebuilt). Used a cheap aftermarket Y3 headgasket...
Engine seems to have a little more grunt with higher compression. Still run 87 gas. Running 1 number colder plugs.