L36 headgaskets....old age..pics

[UR LOSN]

well I am posting this here for info on the L36.

for those of you that have NOT torn down your topend before... here is what is under your LIM:


here is what I found when I pulled the LIM off: here are the head Intake ports:



this was after years of driving and I don know how many UIM. the oil/carbon build up in the ports was literally 1/8th inch thick. yes..I was loosing power..lol

here are the ports on the LIM:

same gunk build up.

I have had a misfire, and a "slight" coolant leak. ok, it vanishes into thin air.

I would quite literally have to fill the radiator everyday, and when I would go out and drive I would come back home..and the radiator would be about half full. I checked the oil...nothing was mixing. so I didnt think it was a head gasket.. but dug down farther and found all the gunk build up, so I decided to take the heads off. boom. found the leak on the rear gasket. it was leaking down the back of the block.

needless to say I thoroughly cleaned the LIM, heads, did some P&P work, cleaned injectors, slapped the GTP TB on officially, and smoothed the runners in the UIM. slapped it all back together with revised gaskets. let it set overnight for the little bit of RTV to cure. I filled it with fluids today and fired her up. BOOM...


JK!!!! she's camn. all the vacuum hoses are brittle and I happend to crumble a few... but I got the new MAF tables put in the PCM, as well as other modifications. took her out. man...it pulls up top now. it doenst lag like it did before.

no matter what your car knowledge is...dont be afraid to investigate/take your car apart. the 3800 is EXTREMELY easy to work on.

if you run into a snag, just ask.....

[SyntheticShield]

Its amazing how your gut instinct puts you in the ball park about 80% of the time. Great work and thanks for posting.

[Sabrewings]

Title of the thread was misleading as I was expecting to see worn headgaskets, not LIM gaskets.

But, yikes!!! Yours is so much dirtier than my car was when I did my LIM gasket job. Here's a pic... ~63k miles on the clock:



Yes, those are the new gaskets, but the general area just looks cleaner.

[Bio248]

youre kidding about those gaskets having 63k on them right?

[UR LOSN]

yeah, my hands were a little bit dirty(understatement), otherwise I would have had pics of the heads off. The rear head had a crease coming down from a coolant passage(like a small river).

my car had 158,700 on the clock of my motor. big difference from 63K.

but I like your cleaner pics!!!

[Sabrewings]

youre kidding about those gaskets having 63k on them right?

I wrote under the picture...

Yes, those are the new gaskets, but the general area just looks cleaner.

my car had 158,700 on the clock of my motor. big difference from 63K.

I just can't believe all the carbon buildup in the lifter valley. The result of running bad gaskets a long time or simply age?

[UR LOSN]

my guess........lack of matinence. this GT was in poor shape when I picked her up. I think she screams now for what is done. I am happy with the perfomance gains, and that it is a job well done. I dont see any mechanical problems anymore in the near future...just suspension. RR shock is blown, and LR is starting to go.

I am thinking about pulling the suspension off the GTP and slap it on the GT, and just put the coilover system on the GTP from Intense's website. think it might help a bit.
but the GT starts right up now, has better Throttle response, and wicked topend. I just wish the thrasher Nitrous plate fit onto this UIM.

[Sabrewings]

I'm really hoping mine never look like that. I have brand new UIM and LIM gaskets (well, about 4k miles old now). Aluminum lowers and updated design for the upper. Should be good, even though I'm planning a top swap anyway.

[UR LOSN]

sounds like you are taking really good care of your car!!!! keep up the good work

[Sabrewings]

sounds like you are taking really good care of your car!!!! keep up the good work

I want it to last forever. Don't we all...