Thread: What's your take?

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Over the Holiday I was talking with my father inlaw about my 1971 Imapla 400 Small Block and how it was running like crap and smokes alot. He's been around cars and had a few projects so I was picking his brain for some knowledge. Several things came up that I wanted to run buy you gentleman on this fine forum.

Putting Tranny Fluid in the gas tank to blow the carbon deposits out of the motor? Has anyone else done this? He said it was a old trick people would do on cars with lots of miles on them for a kind of tune up.

He then cut out some cardboard and placed it against the end of the tail pipe and it fluttered or smacked back and forth. He said it shouldnt do this and said possibly had cylinders that were not firing or also a stuck valve? We pulled each wire off the distributor to check which cylinders were not firing and as it turned out when undoing the number 1 cylinder it had no effect on the idle of the motor.

As it was running I showed hime the smoke coming from the exhaust so he said to pull the radiator cap and see if it was gurgaling or bubbling and that would be a sign that air was entering the radiator through some kind of leak, either Head Gasket, Warped Head etc. Well the radiator was only have full after I had filled it up several months ago after I had brought it home. I have only driven it around the block or moved it across the street when mowing to get it out of the way. Is there a better way to tell if this is just a blown Head Gasket or something more serious like a warped Head other than tearing it down?

What's your opion? What would you do? Let me know if more info would help

Thanks,

If it does indeed have a blown head gasket you hafta automatically assume the head is warped, Ya need to pull it and if you don't have a machinist straight edge it needs to go to the machine shop to be checked along with a check for cracks and a valve job while it's there. But more than likely the heads cracked...
Easy way to check for a blown head gasket is find a shop with a 4 or 5 gas emission anylizer and check for hydrocarbons at the radiator neck, if hydrocarbons are present exhaust gasses are getting into the cooling system thru-head gasket or crack in head...
But assuming its original, the motors probally due for a complete rebuild anyway

Well that's not good news... I really can't see spending $1200.00 for a new set of Heads for this car.

I got the $1200.00 Head price out of the Summit catalog for a new set of Heads. Figured junk yards would be picked over and buying a used set and having them reworked could lead to problems and the difference in price would not be worth the hassle? Maybe wrong but as you'r aware this is a hobby and I'm learn'n as I go.

Originally posted by Streets
[font=lucida sans]I used to use a mixture of brake fluid and windshield washer solvent mixed ½ & ½ in a coke bottle, run the engine up a few 1000 rpms and pour it in the carb, then watch the smoke pour out the tailpipes, this effectively cleaned out the carbon in the cylinders/valves and stopped the smokin' too.. then change the plugs as they will be fouled out... IF this cures it then you should run a "water injection" unit on it in the future.. That also uses a window washer solvent for best results..
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Well I'm call'n B.S. on the "water injection" but did you really run windshield washer solvent and brake fluid? He said only to use the "red" transmission fluid if I did this in the gas tank.

Thanks, Well I was thought Streets was yanking my chain with the "water injection" comment (i.e. Johnson rods). I do think I have a lead on some Heads though. I was over at the neighbors helping straight'n the rear bumper on his dirt track car last night and another neighbor showed up that races a Camaro and he's got about 8 sets of Heads and would bring me a set . Good timing I guess as he was getting ready to throw them out. Sounds like they are possibly 350 heads so I guess my next question is how important is it to drill steam holes or can I just cover them up with the gasket?

yeah yeah enlighten us on the steam hole thing i have heard of it just not sure how to explain it( relievs the pockets of heat and steam in the water jacket on the heads i think?)

Thanks Tech and Streets. Havent seen the neighbor with the Heads yet. Hopefully he was not just blow'n smoke and will come through. Went to the races Friday night at a little dirt track down the road in Grain Valley with my other neighbor. He wasn't race'n because his transmission went out. Introduced me to a guy that rebuilds motor's. He said if I would pull the motor he would rebuild it for $2500. Some of the other guy's said he's not the cheapest but always does quality work. $2500 is more than I care to spend right now so I think Im going to do what I can and see how it goes. Thanks for the info