Ok so most of you all know I purchased the 3800 s/c cavy on here. Well I’ve been enjoying racing the snot out of her and blew it up. I’m really hoping it is a head gasket, there is oil and coolant mixed up in the pan, no metal parts that I can see. Not leaking any fluid but it did blow the dip stick out and cover the engine bay in oil/coolant.
That being said, I’ll pull the heads off and see what she looks like inside.
I’m curious on what I should do once inside. I don’t know a ton about the 3800 but its a push rod so it can’t be that bad.
Main questions I have are in relation to compression ration and blower output. I’ve read where people put on a thinner head gasket and run less boost but make more power. I was also thinking about running a thicker head gasket and more boost? Thoughts?
I will probably start spraying the car with a 75-125 hp shot of nitrous for fun so keep this in mind.
LS6 springs, ls7 lifters - raising the redline to 6800rpm or so.
Good head gasket… with copper spray.
Head studs?
Maybe some 1.9 rockers down the road.
Car already has intake, exhaust, tb spacer (no coolant to TB) and runs about 10psi.
This is a semi budget build and I’m really hoping to keep the repair under $500 if possible (doing it myself of course).
I would get the heads pulled and see how bad the carnage is before making any plans.
As far as the headgasket/decking goes, are you using anything for tuning? thinner gasket/decking will get you more power without tuning. If it was just the headgasket that blew you’ll wanna get the heads decked. However the last headgasket I blew took a chunk of the cylinder with it in the process…
If you lower compression and run more boost youll need a tune to take advantage of the lower compression. You’ll be able to get more timing into it without detonating…
Did you pull the plugs yet? If a tip is bent or gone on one you chipped a piston. I still cant believe its running a 3.25 and has made it this fair. Usually you don’t drop that low unless you do rockers and headers.
As far as the heads and block if its junk then just get a junk yard motor and toss it is and repeat. Heat and to much timing can blow the head gasket.
If you want to make power ZZP are the guys to talk to.
I sold my gtp 5 years ago. I was running cam, headers, Intercooler, ported blower, north star throttle body, a 3.0 pulley … as my DD. It was a strong runner and the guy I sold it to is still driving it.
That’s awesome. I’ve already found a few pull outs for ~$300 I’m just really not in the mood to pull the engine, especially since I just did the clutch. I’ll pull the plugs tonight, depending how I feel maybe the heads.
Might just run a little thicker head gasket to be safe and spray her balls off.
