just a bit of tech advice needed,i have just bought a classic RA (1994)with a suspect blown head gasket,the guy i bought it off had just spent nearly £1k getting a bottom end rebuild (ie crank etc) and only done 250 mile and the head gasket went,which after a bit of research (by myself) found he drove it with a split header tank,anyway it was cheap so i snapped it up,am going to try a new header tank on tommorow,i have had it started with no water in (30 seconds only) and sounded sweet enough,is there anything i should check before i remove engine for head gasket repair,i am removing the engine myself and was thinking whilst its out i may as well do some mods,heard a few people on here fit sti V3 or V4 heads is this the correct way to go if i want good bhp (hoping for 400 bhp) any advice will help

 

if the header tank is split it is possible the head gaskets are actually fine

 

when i bought it i first started it there was no water in header tank and i could smell petrol in header tank,also the lad i bought it off said if you put water in it blows white smoke from exhaust,am going to fit new header tank in the morning and see what happens

 

head gasket defo gone fitted header tank today and filled with water (note engine oil was ok looking)started engine without header tank cap on and it blew the water out of the header tank nearly as fast as it was filled,drained water of from rad and the water stunk of petrol,checked engine oil and its now milky so defo head gasket,scary thing is the baffoon i bought it of must have fitted new engine oil before i bought it

 

out of curiousity have you got receipts for the engine rebuild? seems a bit strange for a head gasket to go after 250 miles (assuming new head gasket used in the build) and also for an engine builder to let it go with a split header

 

yes i still have receipts for engine rebuild and i contacted him and found out that
the kid removed engine himself and got it rebuilt by a profesional and kid refitted
engine himself and ran it with a leaking header tank,it will be going back to the same garage as i know he has a good reputation (AS performance)