74 power wagon dream truck...

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Frying pan into the fire into the sewer! 100% dead number five cylinder all others between 205 and 215 on compression check..

Ugh. Has it occurred to you, that my white truck has infected your white truck? Gimme another tree to bang my head against, I've worn this one out.
 
Ugh. Has it occurred to you, that my white truck has infected your white truck? Gimme another tree to bang my head against, I've worn this one out.
It was quite a surprise I've had well over 600 worry-free miles driving the freeway out to McMinnville and anywhere I wanted to with no problems... I'll break it down today get it cleaned up over the weekend and get parts and be putting it back together next week if it's nothing catastrophic....
 
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As soon as I got the intake off I could see the chunk of gasket laying there in the valley. I guess it could have been worse. I've already got the $162 with the gaskets and sealer in my cart for summit.
 
Are you going to have the heads surfaced ?
That's usually a good idea with aftermarket heads.
 
They're factory heads..
My bad, I have your Duster on my brain.
Do you have an idea as to why the gasket blew?
It might be time for you to fire up the Duster and get rowdy. lol as in have some fun
 
Detonation?
I don't think so it seemed to be running extremely well... No pending or anything like that or anything to indicate something was wrong.
When I get a compression check I was getting anywhere from 205 to 215 cranking compression..
 
That’s a lot of cranking compression. What fuel are you using? What’s the timing curve look like? And how do the plugs look?
 
That’s a lot of cranking compression. What fuel are you using? What’s the timing curve look like? And how do the plugs look?
I was using 91 non ethanol but have been backing that off just to 87 as that's what I built it for at about 9.3:1 compression.…
As I recall I was at about 16 initial and 34 all in with no vacuum advance.
The plugs were looking great until this happened..
Again everything was working running and operating absolutely perfect until this happened..
The tops of the Pistons in the spark plugs weren't showing any signs of detonation....
 
There is something weird going on. I’d have to know what cam is in it and probably have @AJ/FormS do some math to know for sure but at 9.3:1 you should not be seeing 205-215psi of cranking pressure.
 
Fel Pro 8553 is a good head gasket for stock rebuilds, but they don't like 200+ psi or better per cylinder. You'll need a better gasket.
 
There is something weird going on. I’d have to know what cam is in it and probably have @AJ/FormS do some math to know for sure but at 9.3:1 you should not be seeing 205-215psi of cranking pressure.
100% agree. Either the cam timing events are really advanced or it's got more than 9.3:1 in my opinion.
 
I'm going to chalk this up as bad luck with a lot of good luck.
Bad luck as in it could have been just a defective gasket...
Good luck because it didn't break into the water and it didn't break far from home....
About $200 in gaskets and supplies and a crap load of scaping and cleaning :(...
 
I'm going to chalk this up as bad luck with a lot of good luck.
Bad luck as in it could have been just a defective gasket...
Good luck because it didn't break into the water and it didn't break far from home....
About $200 in gaskets and supplies and a crap load of scaping and cleaning :(...
That gasket didn’t push out like that from bad luck. I promise.
 
I think it’s lucky that the gasket blew and didn’t hole a piston.
 
100% agree. Either the cam timing events are really advanced or it's got more than 9.3:1 in my opinion.
Advanced the cam just a little bit. It was either a half a degree retarded or a degree and a half advanced... My timing set only had increments of two..
Again it starts on a dime and stops on a dime and always ran absolutely perfect with perfect throttle response almost as a fuel injected. I never have put the choke into uses so I've just got it locked wide open....
Anyways I just got my shipping confirmation I've got a set of 1008s on the way.,
I've never had any trouble out of 8553s but have always used the 1008s with higher compression stuff..
 
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Advanced the cam just a little bit. It was either a half a degree retarded or a degree and a half advanced... My timing set only had increments of two..
Again it starts on a dime and stops on a dime and always ran absolutely perfect with perfect throttle response almost as a fuel injected. I never have put the choke into you so I've just got it locked wide open....
Anyways I just got my shipping confirmation I've got a set of 1008s on the way.,
I've never had any trouble out of 8553s but have always used the 1008s with higher compression stuff..
I just think you mis-used the 8553. Be thankful you close to home. 1008's will serve you better but will push the compression up just a tad more.
 
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