turbo 3.8 Reply #15 – July 07, 2007, 02:42:44 PM i have a stock 3.8 and i am rebuilding it to twin turbo it or twin charger it and its going to have performance head gaskets which they last forever.also i used a stock 3.8 from a 83 cougar i single turbo it for a month on 7psi no blown head gaskets and being driven hard too. so i think it just a myth that people say to get the 5.0HO in there cars instead of fixing the 3.8. Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #16 – July 07, 2007, 04:32:20 PM Quote from: Chuck W;159189Since when were the 3.8's iron-headed?For quite a long time. Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #17 – July 07, 2007, 10:16:27 PM Quote from: Sick88Tbird;159253For quite a long time.You must be referring to the GM 3.8. Ford 3.8's have had aluminum heads at least as far back as '82.If anyone is seriously considering a turbo 3.8 they should pick up this month's MM&FF magazine. There's a 9-second, 600+ horsepower turbo 3.8 Mustang in there. There's also a 9-second (I think, it was 9, may have been quicker) turbo 4 Mustang Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #18 – July 07, 2007, 11:48:00 PM Quotei dont get it on the 3.8 headgasket phobia. I drove my 3.8 for 340,000 miles and never had that problem. i think its a myth created by people who done know much about cars,, the myth started just about the time aluminum heads arrived on the market. seems like everyone was then and still is now against aluminum. its like you never hear about cast iron heads being the problem when a hg blows but just make any fuss on a 3.8 and all of a sudden "well darlin, it must've been them there alumninum heads that cause your engine trouble"recall or not,, i still think that headgasket phobia is fauxYou definitely have the exception to the rule, Scott. My '84 is incredibly well preserved. It was bought new by elderly people. It was always garaged. It was bought from a town where the highest speed limit is 35 mph. It was meticulously and regularly maintained. And yet, the head gaskets still blew. Wait, take that back, technically they didn't blow, but they were bad. The heads themselves cracked, which led to bad gaskets. You'd think after only 106K miles, the car would have been alright.My first '84 was sold at 123K miles, no issues. The people that bought it told me the head gaskets had to be changed at around 145K miles. The car was not abused by me, and I know it wasn't abused after.Alas, mileage apparently doesn't matter, and no matter how much you might baby the engine...it's going to happen. Anyone that owns a 3.8 should just accept the inevitable: the HG's are going to blow, and/or the heads will crack or warp bad enough to need replaced. I'd bet 9 out of 10 cars will run into this before 150K miles. Those that make it past 150K...those are the lucky ones. But they're rare. I can't tell you how many people have contacted me over the last 10 years about their head gasket failures.As bad as the HG change is on our cars, imagine an SC motor. Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #19 – July 08, 2007, 12:32:28 AM The 3.8 HG problem is due to a very narrow sealing area toward the end of the head... That and the aluminum expands at a different rate than the iron block... They are also pr0ne to crack due to the thin area where the lower head bolts are... And of course after they are run red hot due to the gasket leaking, the heads are generally warped and or cracked...Me, I'm yet to own a Ford vehicle with the 3.8 and unless someone gives it to me, probably never will... Just to make the point, I've owned 14 TCs, at least 15-18 other 2.3s and a couple dozen 5.0 vehicles... Only Foxes I've owned with 6cyls was a '79 Capri with the 2.8 V6 and a '80 Stang with the 200 in line...EDIT... I forgot about the 6-7 Fairmonts/Zephyrs with 200 cyl and one with a 5.0... luckily those never got the 3.8... Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #20 – July 08, 2007, 09:46:42 AM Quote from: jcassity;159154i dont get it on the 3.8 headgasket phobia. *snip*You definitely got a ringer. I had one, too - my '85 carbed 3.8 had 270k on it when I sold it, and the only problem I ever had with that engine was valve seals causing two plugs to foul (and I fixed that problem in trade school).That's a far cry from the SEFI 3.8 in my '91 T-Bird, which had the HG fail after 50k very pampered miles. Like Tom said - it's not simply the aluminum head/iron block combo, it's the design of them. There's like 1/4" separating the combustion chamber from the coolant passage at the ends of the head. That 1/4" combined with the alloy head/iron block situation is what causes them to blow, not the metals alone. Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #21 – July 08, 2007, 09:54:51 AM Quote from: Sick88Tbird;159253For quite a long time.Not in a Ford..... Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #22 – July 08, 2007, 10:26:18 AM Quote from: jcassity;159154i dont get it on the 3.8 headgasket phobia. I drove my 3.8 for 340,000 miles and never had that problem. i think its a myth created by people who done know much about cars,, ...recall or not,, i still think that headgasket phobia is fauxUm I WISH it was just a myth. EVERY single 3.8L of mine has spit the gaskets. Try using the throttle to accelerate. YOU WILL blow the headgaskets at some point. My '83 Cougar blew BOTH of them at the same time, my '85 Cougar blew one, and my '88 Tbird blew them, hence the 5.0L swap in the last two. Mind you my '86 Cougar is still going strong, and the thing WONT die. I pound it in the field and rev the out of it but it just wont quit. Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #23 – July 08, 2007, 11:27:25 AM my 95 mustang vert in the 5 yrs i owned it (bought it new) i put 3 sets of head gaskets in it when i traded it for my truck it had another blown gasket. luckily i was in it only for parts and after the recall i submitted a repair bill from the shop i was working in and was reimbursed for almost $900 from ford. i wasn't easy on it but i didn't abuse it. i know a machinist and he was interested in the h/g failures he sonic checked the heads and found the thickest area of the heads was around .210" awful thin. he also checked other heads and found the deck surface to range between .187-.220" Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #24 – July 08, 2007, 01:27:58 PM Quote from: Chuck W;159401Not in a Ford.....Agreed... no 3.8 iron heads I know of... Had Ford used/switched to iron, likely 99.9% of the problems would have been eliminated... And MAYBE I'd own one of the things... Quote Selected
turbo 3.8 Reply #25 – July 10, 2007, 08:25:12 PM They say a pict is worth a 1000 words.... Quote Selected
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