I just built up a nice zc for a junk yard turbo project. Every part of the motor was taken apart and completely rebuilt. The only thing I tried to get away with was reusing the headgasket after spraying it with copper gasket. As soon as I started up the motor white smoke came pouring out of the exhaust and I had the famous bubbles in my radiator to indicate that the headgasket had blown. It wasn't just stuff burning off the new motor. I've rebuilt a few motors and I know what that looks like. Also, the plugs were covered in oil.
Heres where it gets tricky. I pulled the head off and the headgasket looks fine. For the amout of smoke coming out of the exhaust, I was expecting to see a major flaw in the gasket. I'm getting ready to check the head and block for warping. Its a fairly new engine that has never seen boost. Can someone give me some insight into what has happened??

Thanks guys.

Frustrated as always with the project crx,

Evan

 

You reused a head gasket and didn't seal it properly.

Get a new head gasket. Costs $60, problem solved.

 

yeah, I was trying to to a cheap rebuild......i know flame me. I'm cheap.

I was really hoping to see a big gap where the gasket blew out but the gasket looked fine. I really hope a new headgasket fixes things.

keep the imput coming guys

 

anyone else?

 

you got arp headstuds? Might wanna try those. Even though I just blew my y8 headgasket yesterday with the studs in.

 

I lost the #3 cylinder seal with my Cometic/ARP combo in my built A1/ZC engine. There was absolutely nothing visibly wrong with the gasket. In fact, I still had 180 psi on every cylinder. However, when I pressurized the cooling system and looked into the cylinders with a flashlight, I could see coolant filling up the #3 cylinder.

I yanked the Cometic out and tossed in a new OEM Honda gasket. Runs like a champ.

If that is a junkyard motor, you should definitely check the surfaces of the head and block. A lot of the engines that end up there die from overheating.

Sonny