Over-enthusiasm on trackday - Head Gasket

[Duzza 0]

Long time lurker, first time poster!

 

I had some great fun on a trackday recently during the hot weather. Too much fun apparently. My pride and joy did not make it back under it's own power...

 

Essentially I stayed out too long on track, got too into things and ended up overheating the engine. It was going so well, and I was having such a good laugh. Entirely my fault. Smoke from the exhaust, and the coolant disappearing seemingly nowhere. I now know what most of you would have determined is a blown head gasket. There was enough that had come out the expansion tank in the engine bay, that I stupidly thought that was the only damage. I refilled the coolant and limped, well, 5 minutes home before realising I had not gotten away with it. I bought the car to learn mechanics on, so guess i'm going to be learning a lot more!

 

I bought the car as advertised with a XU10J2 head, to a standard 1.9 XU9JA. What i'm struggling to understand is;

 

-I'm Sure I need head bolts to fit the block, but what gasket am I supposed to fit..? Should it match the head or the block?
-I'm only going by what was advertised for the head, and even then I know there's variations. Is there a way I can check exactly what I'm working with to avoid any mistakes when purchasing new parts? Would it be stamped on the head, or are they all similar enough..?
-Considering i'm yet to do any stripdown yet, but assuming my diagnosis is correct, any advice on the degree of rebuild I should commit to? I understand it's best practice to skim the head, replace gaskets / seals, water pump, timing belt. Think I can look at the valve train myself and relap the valves etc. Other than ensuring the condition / tolerances should I be looking at anything else? Especially since there's gotta be a good ratio of water when I should have oil!

Any tips for things in general for what i'm about to get myself into are also appreciated!

[jackherer 543]

1 hour ago, Duzza said:

-I'm Sure I need head bolts to fit the block

I haven't put an XU10 head on an XU9 myself so I don't know for sure but it probably needs a very specific set of headbolts and spacers/washers, especially for the one over the water pump area.

 

If you get them wrong you can do a lot of damage to the block, either punching though into areas the bolts shouldn't be going into or pulling the threads from the block.

 

Someone will probably post the correct combination of bolts here soon but nonetheless keep the ones you remove in order with their corresponding washers and spacers so you can compare the new ones to them.

 

1 hour ago, Duzza said:

Is there a way I can check exactly what I'm working with

Post lots of photos on here!

[Duzza 0]

20 hours ago, jackherer said:

I haven't put an XU10 head on an XU9 myself so I don't know for sure but it probably needs a very specific set of headbolts and spacers/washers, especially for the one over the water pump area.

 

If you get them wrong you can do a lot of damage to the block, either punching though into areas the bolts shouldn't be going into or pulling the threads from the block.

Yup, I've seen the posts where head bolts have ended up causing damage due to missing spacers. I'll be sure to pay attention to this, but guess I wont stand much of a chance if the bolts are also the wrong size!

[welshpug 1,661]

with an 8v head I believe there are no differences, use alloy block head bolts and all the spacers/washers that the engine currently has

[SootySport 23]

At least you had a lot of fun pushing the little 205 to the limit, one does get carried away with the excitement.    Don’t forget to have the head crack tested and level checked, good luck on the rebuild and a little shorter sessions on next trackdays.