Havent updated anything for a while, so i thought i'd share a story with you all...
Early this year i decided to change my Cometic head gaskets as they leaked from day one after building the motor. My fault as i didnt deck the block...
Anyway, i put Felpro's on it and had the worst of luck... I put it back together, drove it close to home a few times to test and it seemed fine. Took it for a big drive with the family and it got hot. Not overheated but hot. I checked the coolant and it was basically empty! No drips anywhere. Then i had the worst thought, so I pulled out the dipstick. There was the coolant... Nursed it home and pulled it down again.
The gaskets blew out both sides between cylinders and shot coolant out into the valley. I couldnt understand why! The only thing i could think of was the torque setting wasnt right.
I checked the torque wrench and it was still set to the right tension. Then i had a thought. What if the wrench is out of calibration? I borrowed this wrench off a mate because i lent my good one to somebody and it came back broken... I took the wrench to my mechanic mate who has one of those snap-on digital vibrating ones. We checked them on a wheel nut and my wrench was out by nearly half!!!!! Instead of torquing the ARP studs to 80ft-lbs they were only 40!!!
Anyway, bought another set of Felpro's from the states and tried again with the snap-on wrench. All is good lol. As a matter of fact, the car goes better than ever before as the cometics always leaked. I reckon its got another 10% atleast! AND the felpros are slightly thicker than the cometics were, bringing the compression ratio down. They must have leaked like sieves.
a bit premature right now still gotta a few bits an bobs to buy.. trying to leach info from experienced peeps as to what else i need for it to be safe.. lol.. a lot to consider to do it right, am a rookie and want as much info as i can get haha
