broken world heads

[Old Grey]

It could be this, it could be that, either way the best thing to do would be to beef up the head in that area, and increase the safety factor, so that accumulated circumstances don't cause problems.

[1928rutherford]

I had both of my blocks O ringed by the same shop. I ran my other brand of heads with and without receiver grooves and thought the extra claming of the extra bolts on thes heads would make receiver grooves not necessary. I will measure how far the oring wire protrudes on both blocks.

[avengerengines]

It could be this, it could be that, either way the best thing to do would be to beef up the head in that area, and increase the safety factor, so that accumulated circumstances don't cause problems.

"If" the wrong gaskets were used at one time, are you saying they should be made stronger so they would hold up to improper installation?

[1928rutherford]

I don't know what could be wrong with the gaskets as they were made by SCE for this application. They are .062 thick copper and fully support the heads. I understand that using a regular sbf gasket would not support the head on the extra upper and lower bolt holes.

[avengerengines]

I don't know what could be wrong with the gaskets as they were made by SCE for this application. They are .062 thick copper and fully support the heads. I understand that using a regular sbf gasket would not support the head on the extra upper and lower bolt holes.

As pointed out earlier from the markings, it appears at one time someone used the wrong gaskets. They could have been weakened or even started to crack at that time. It just seems odd that they would both break on a burn out. We're all with you on this and someone will come up with a cause. I don't think it's a manufacturing issue.

[kick2008a]

Did anybody think about the blower not seated on the intake flat and putting a bind on it, pulling the head up in the middle. Spinning it up with the heavy blower could easily pry on it.

[john@bmp]

Did anybody think about the blower not seated on the intake flat and putting a bind on it, pulling the head up in the middle. Spinning it up with the heavy blower could easily pry on it.

We did discuss on the phone if there was something that could pull UP from the intake side to cause this.

There were 3 heads involved here.

1. The original pair

2. The replacement or the one that broke.

Now, the two that are broken are from the original pair. The ones that people are saying have the gasket lines on them

The one that did not crack, is the new, fresh installed one that was ordered to replace the cracked one.

Now, IDK what that says.

Does it say that the original castings had a problem? Or does it say the 2 older heads were installed once as a pair incorrectly causing a problem? Or none of the above? Was it a tune or something else?

IDK. The customer is going to send me one of the cracked heads while we wait for the foundry to come back with metallurgy report and we'll check.

[1928rutherford]

The heads were brand new, the gaskets were brand new, the block was brand new. Ok I built the intake manifold and I put the block and heads onto my mill and machined the blower surface true to the crankshaft plane. What else could I have done?

[john@bmp]

The heads were brand new, the gaskets were brand new, the block was brand new. Ok I built the intake manifold and I put the block and heads onto my mill and machined the blower surface true to the crankshaft plane. What else could I have done?

I don't know. That's why I'd like to see the heads and we're getting the metal tested.

Like I said, I just don't want this to happen again. Once you bolt up the next set, it should be your last. I want a fix that solves the problem, so we're doing what we can to get to the root cause, the best we can.

[Strange Magic]

I had both of my blocks O ringed by the same shop. I ran my other brand of heads with and without receiver grooves and thought the extra claming of the extra bolts on thes heads would make receiver grooves not necessary. I will measure how far the oring wire protrudes on both blocks.

The heads in question seen on page one, did this block have O rings in it without reciever grooves in the head?

[HARDCORERACER]

I know these guys, I was also there both times they had the car out. These guys aren't dummies they have been building small block fords for decades. As far as the tune up goes i saw the data log of both runs...no tune up problems here, not lean, not detonating, not making any sense. Broke the first heads on the very first burnout ie. no load on the motor...second time out exactly the same thing halfway through the burnout! They built another blown alky small block before this one and ran it for 4-5 years without a hitch. It was a very similar combo accept cheaper parts used???

[1997bird]

That's were I thought a weakness would be.

You should really post the situation of the failures, because it wouldn't be fair to not give the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt.

The head started lifting between the last two chambers, the stress riser was there and went all the way out. Witness marks, don't lie. Data loggers are good but they do lie too! You need to look at the clamping issue here.

The answer to this situation is post the pictures of the block side of the head gasket and deck side with no clean up done to the gasket. A good reason why the gasket is probably not shown

[FuelieNova]

Any new developments on this?
Tom

[af2]

Look at those heads again and see if you see the firing ring go away, around the bore.

[john@bmp]

Any new developments on this?
Tom

Here's where we're at:

1. We have a sample going to the foundry in the UK where these were cast for analysis.

2. I have requested to get the heads back into our shop so we can take a closer look at them. I haven't heard back so I assume one head is on it's way.

3. I have requested to have the gasket returned so we can examine that. Again, no news I assume is good news and it's on its way.

Until we get our hands on the parts it's impossible to come to any conclusion. It will be conjecture.