Christian95

Noticed my temperature was getting high while sitting in traffic so when I parked, I checked my coolant and it was low. Looked under the oil cap and found a bunch of sludge! Then looked at the oil dip stick and water droplets up and down it. I wiped it off and checked it again to be sure and found sludge every time I cleaned and rechecked. It's been a little under a year since I changed the head gasket and I'm really surprised that it's likely blown again. And right during good weather season! Need to get a compression check to confirm it but I can also see some wetness around the back driver side of the engine which is #7? Anyways I just kinda felt like ranting after discovering this today.

cardo0

My sympathies but more important is your performance in school than the performance of your vette. U got some tough choices for transportation. Keep chasing difficult and time consuming problems on a 30 yr old vette or swap in a cheap low mile or even crate motor or get a more reliable cheap car. Honda civic make sense? Used rental from Hertz, Avis, Budget?

Take it for what its worth and good luck.

Christian95

I do agree but I have a Chevy sonic I drive around for work and school. Thanks for the reply! I just gotta do some saving for some new heads and an intake and maybe a cam 😂 if the wife approves...

Christian95

Just to reassure myself, I triple checked every thing and used new arp bolts with new Fel pro gaskets for everything. Is it more likely that I still messed up somehow or is more likely something out of my control caused it? I had the heads pressure checked,cleaned, and resurfaced and was told they were straight and ready to use with no cracks. Or is it possible that my block could be the cause? It looked fine to me but I'm just not sure how the gaskets could go that quick after a year and a half.

cardo0

Well just some possibilities are the head gasket and deck surface (head surface too). For aluminum heads the iron block deck should have a finish of 25Ra to 30Ra (half what iron heads need). A lot of owners never consider this when changing from iron heads (50Ra to 60Ra deck surface) to aluminum. And i have seen plenty of sbc with deck surface that looks like it was cut by a chainsaw.

I read the MLS gasket is used with a lot of stock alum heads but my choice would be something with a lot of graphite in it as the alum heads squirm around alot on the iron deck as they heat up and expand differently.

Hope this helps.

Christian95

I'll check the block surface again when I get back into it. As for now, I don't want to get back into all of that without replacing the stock heads and intake as well. Maybe even the cam if it isn't too difficult. I'd be able to get the radiator out of the way some and lift the engine up a bit to get a cam in without totally removing the engine right? And also, I came across a great deal on some heads but they are a vortec bolt pattern. They'll bolt onto the block just fine but the tpi will need the adapter plate from SDPC right? Would it just be easier to get an intake that bolts up without the plate? Sorry if I'm asking dumb questions but I am not familiar with the vortec set up. I've heard they'll do pretty good when matched with a 383 which is what I'm running. Anyways they're 175cc intake runner and 67cc chamber. I do believe he said they're Dart but not sure of the model. Would it be too much stress to run a vortec setup on my L98 block? Is there anything else I'd need to worry about? Like I said they're a great deal so that's why I'm considering them but I don't want to buy them blindly without knowing all of the work I'd get into trying to fit them up with the L98. Thanks so much so far for the replies and thanks in advance for the boatload of questions I just asked! You all are the best!

cardo0

Do more reading and less shopping. There is a recent thread here that goes over the alum back to iron head option. Vortec TPI base plates are a deal killer.

For a 383 stroker the World Products Sportsman II is the ticket. Cheap as it gets in 64cc and 72cc chamber sizes. But they beg to be pocket ported for great flow. Just buy from a vendor that does the pocket porting too and u get a package deal for less.

But with a wife and school dude watch your priorities. There will always be cheap deals on old corvettes. Good luck.

VikingTrad3r

realistically you could probably bang out a head gasket in a weekend now no? maybe try hylomar. stuff is supposed to be amazballs. i used it on mine ill let u know how it goes.

Christian95

Yeah I could get it done pretty quickly since I've done it all before. But like Cardo said, the wife and school come first. I could probably get the head gasket done using what I have but it'd be really hard for me to get that far and not throw better heads and an intake on there. I just can't afford those right now. It's not my daily driver and my wife has a vehicle as well so I'll just have to let it slide to the back burner while I wait for a good opportunity on heads and an intake. Or the thought has crossed my mind to sell it... But then I'd just want another 😂

ghoastrider1

I bought a set of Vortecs from the machine shop, freshly redone, 300 bucks. I bought the eldebrock intake and hi flow runners.. wife will raise cane with you..cost nearly 1K for them. You can buy a set of aftermarket Alum heads that fit your L-98 for just about the same as I have into my set up.