(Possibly) Blew a head gasket looking for suggestions

[arlisscm]

Hey all,

The day I have been dreading for some time finally came.

Seemingly blew a head gasket down the start/finish straight at Watkins Glen and laid down a hefty smoke screen.

I'm leaning towards a built engine but I am open to suggestions.

Thinking maybe a puma speed short block or j-spec short block.

Or should I replace the gaskets (throw in some head studs while I'm there) and do the timing belt also?

This is my stock unit with ~ 71k on the clock. It's been big turbo since around 20k and has been dead reliable up until now.

Let me know what you think.

 

[dhminer]

Hard to say without knowing if the head is warped, cylinder wall scoring, or anything else. If everything is still in good shape, I’d swap the gasket, and timing belt and call it a day. Head studs wouldn’t hurt, but it seems like our engines typically throw a rod before lifting the head so not sure it’s worth the effort.

Built bottom end would be sweet. I’d probably do a long block from Pumaspeed, but if you want a short block check out the huge price tag but solid build from https://www.speedperf6rmanc3.com/products/sp63-underdog-short-block-ford-fiesta-st-1-6l.html

 

[arlisscm]

Hard to say without knowing if the head is warped, cylinder wall scoring, or anything else. If everything is still in good shape, I’d swap the gasket, and timing belt and call it a day. Head studs wouldn’t hurt, but it seems like our engines typically throw a rod before lifting the head so not sure it’s worth the effort.

Built bottom end would be sweet. I’d probably do a long block from Pumaspeed, but if you want a short block check out the huge price tag but solid build from https://www.speedperf6rmanc3.com/products/sp63-underdog-short-block-ford-fiesta-st-1-6l.html

I have tools on the way to do a compression test, and borescope so I can do a post mortem and see what I am in for. Basically, if the cylinders look good I'll go the gasket/stud route provided the head and block are still flat (actually have a straight edge to check with by pure accident). Still need to do the timing belt anyway, OE unit is coming up on 12 years old.

Plan B if the block and/or head have issues, I'm leaning towards and bulletproofed block and loaded head from Pumaspeed, then acquiring the remaining parts domestically (likely Whoosh, and straight from Ford) and having a local(ish) shop assemble if the price is reasonable. Also toying with the idea of just assembling it myself. While I haven't assembled an engine before, I've watched it done many many times (shout out to the Power Block on Saturdays when I was a kid, Engine Masters, Roadkill, etc.), and I have years of assembly experience with large industrial centrifugal pumps, so I have experience with measuring bores, turns, checking clearances, end play, etc.

I'll be putting together a spreadsheet with approximate costs, but my guess would be going piecemeal and building it myself should be cheaper, but if the math says otherwise I'm not against just pulling the trigger on a fully built long block from Pumaspeed, just need to squirrel away the funds. And because I like to collect ST parts I'll keep my engine and just pay the core. (as I learned with my transmission, never hurts to have a spare)

My thinking is if the engine has to come out, no sense in putting a stock or close to stock unit back in as the ST is ~95% track duty these days, with the other 5% being shake down/trouble shooting miles in preparation for said track duty.

 

[Grsemky]

Throw one of these bad boys in while you're at it...

 

[arlisscm]

Throw one of these bad boys in while you're at it...

That's kind of the plan. The Pumaspeed bulletproofed block is closed deck as well.

 

[arlisscm]

Small update:

Basically convinced myself at this point to just throw caution and finances to the wind and order a fully done black top competition crate engine from Pumaspeed, swap it out and do a post mortem on my engine later.

Seems to me that a fully built engine is inevitable with the use case for my ST these days, so why not just do it now? It's only money at the end of the day. And I fully intend to keep the ST forever, so ROI is of no consequence to me.

Now, I'm for sure going to keep my stock unit, take a look and see what went wrong, and go from there on a 2nd long term engine build as a spare (or maybe find something else to drop it in).

Just figuring out the logistics of things, but I'll be sure to periodically update here when I have any major updates.

 

[Mega ST]

I either cracked a cylinder or hurt my head gasket a few months back when one of the cam gears got stuck in the advanced position during a pull. It started with a light smoke at idle then pressuring the coolant system. It was still very drivable as long as I relieved pressure from the system after a drive and kept boost below 20psi. I was going to take off the head and see whats up, but then the tranny gave up the ghost. So It's been sitting until I have some time to look at it. 115K miles with 20k on the S280. Think I'll just pull the engine and trans together and work on the motor out of the car. I would love a keyed crank, but I know it has to be removed for that. Let us know how this Puma speed motor works out for you. I'm getting one of their LSD transmissions now.

 

[arlisscm]

I either cracked a cylinder or hurt my head gasket a few months back when one of the cam gears got stuck in the advanced position during a pull. It started with a light smoke at idle then pressuring the coolant system. It was still very drivable as long as I relieved pressure from the system after a drive and kept boost below 20psi. I was going to take off the head and see whats up, but then the tranny gave up the ghost. So It's been sitting until I have some time to look at it. 115K miles with 20k on the S280. Think I'll just pull the engine and trans together and work on the motor out of the car. I would love a keyed crank, but I know it has to be removed for that. Let us know how this Puma speed motor works out for you. I'm getting one of their LSD transmissions now.

I'll be sure to keep everybody in the loop once I get the engine on order and such.

I haven't investigated but something fairly catastrophic happened with my engine. Basically had no warning signs, no overheating (until after failure), running good, no odd noises, then BAM I smoke screened the entire start/finish straight (my gopro captured me checking my mirrors and doing a double/triple take, as-in "WTF is that?"), literally could not see anything behind me and it took a few minutes for it to clear, I pulled over and shut it down immediately so I likely saved some more damage. Coolant temp was 240 when I turned the ignition back on to get towed to the pits, but once it cooled down it ran fine and didn't really smoke. I really didn't lose a lot of coolant (barely dropped the level), but I had some steam come out when I pulled the dipstick which wasn't a good sign. It was able to get itself back on the trailer without issue though.

I got a Pumaspeed LSD transmission a few years ago, I have subsequently blown it up and had Clarke rebuild it, but it was likely due to abuse not necessarily anything on Pumaspeeds side. My only critique would be on the packaging (shipping was extremely fast), but my transmission showed up just loose in a big box with zero packaging. Luckily the only casualty was the reverse sensor plug for the reverse lights. Really hoping the engine is package way better.

I plan to pull the engine and transmission as a unit as well, right out the front. I don't have A/C so I can just pull the whole face off and roll them out together.

 

[Mega ST]

Pulling it out through the front seems the way to go. I do have AC, but it stopped working so I think all the freon leaked out. I will make a note of the Pumaspeed shipping and request better packaging.