Damn, looks like the wrong size head gasket was used!

The head bolt holes on the one side look stretched.....

So what actually happened?

 

Concerning the head bolt holes...a recent magazine article highlighted something very similar and directly related it to detonation...pushing the head gasket out so much that the metal bends/stretches.

Unsure about the coolant 'bleed' holes...looks like missing material.

More details on the engine?

 

uhh ohhh

 

Nitrous ?? Something detonated in that cylinder, enough to blow the gasket a 1/4" sideways.

 

Looks like the gasket was manufactured on a Monday or Friday.....next time try to pick one up that was built in the middle of the week.

 

How about the head alignment dowels were missing or broke...

 

I don't see any signs of excessive heat as from detonation so I have to guess hydrolock?

 

Holy elongation Batman!!

I am with Agent86..... whiffing a bit too much Nitrous

 

well, come on tell us

 

looks good to me, just clean it up and reuse it

 

It's missing hot scantily clothed women.

 

And an icy cold liter of Crown Royal.

 

So what was the deal, improper torque? Wrong gasket? Warped head? Detonation? Too much compression? Disassembled heads with engine running?

 

Detonation......I tried using an auxilary timing device- MSD adjustable timing control with my 6AL box on an 87 with 11:1 compression......they told me not to but saying stuff like that often has the opposite effect......anyway.....the factory ESC does NOT play well with others and this kinda stuff is the result...let ye be forewarned

 

I'm not gonna pretend to be an expert on this but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Seems like your stock stuff would trigger the MSD which would then retard it even further if needed. I can't see how your MSD could possibly advance the timing unless something just wasn't wired right.

One time shortly after I got it I tried the cranking timing retard on my MSD digital 6 and the car didn't want to start / idle worth a crap. I figured that the computer was probably already setting optimal timing under those conditions and thus the MSD was retarding it clean out of it's ability to run.

That's been my last experience with any such device. Any time I've ever needed to adjust the timing I just do it in the computer. I actually had a guy who wanted me to tune his TPI car, pretty sure it was MAF. He had all kinds of startup and driveability problems. He had bigger injectors and had advanced the timing way up. I programmed the injector constant, looked in the computer at what his base timing was supposed to be, borrowed a timing light, and set his timing to that. All of his driveability problems vanished instantly. I explained that putting in larger injectors without changing the computer makes it rich EVERYWHERE, not just at WOT. I also explained that advancing the timing as so many "tech tips" suggest also advances the timing everywhere. I showed him how if he wanted more WOT timing I could do that in the computer while leaving everything else alone, etc.

He was in complete awe. I think a big problem is that people are just not aware of what their fuel injection systems are capable of doing and they don't understand at all the consequences of trying to "trick" the computer.

 

I see that its a 400SBC gasket. Looks like detonation lifted the head and caused the gasket to "crawl". Its actually more common than you'd think....

Check the deck surface where the head bolts are VERY CAREFULLY for cracks.

400's don't have much meat between the head bolt holes and the cyl wall and crack easily there.
Will

 

Slathered it up with permatex #2 and used a chicago pneumatic impact wrench to torque 'em down real tight.....still running today.....just don't wear your good shoes when you walk behind the car.....leather and ethylene glycol dont like each other