I think 17 psi and detonation might have had something to do with it. I am running 12-13 psi without any issues at all. I plan on running 14-15 with the 1900TVS here soon.

 

Yeah and the detonation...push that much air through that engine without the right amount of fuel your gonna have some worthless effects.

 

So you boosted the motor to 17#s but it was accelerating normal? Was the pop from the head gasket or the detonation that happened?

 

It almost sounded like a back fire so I'm assuming it was the gasket, but then again it was the first time I've heard a head gasket blow.

 

Hey Julien. Sorry to see the trucks down, but it's in good hands with Rick and the Synergy crew.
The "pop" you heard when the boost spiked was a lean backfire that occurs in the intake. My old turbo Triumph would do it all the time with the draw through carb in front of the turbo. One time it happened to me on the Marina del Rey fwy at over 100mph. It scared the crap out of me. I thought I blew the engine up but I didn't see any smoke or parts following me. The backfire blew the carb off the front of the turbo and I coasted to a stop, so I climbed out and re attached it and continued on my merry way. Sounds like you found the same problem unfortunately it cost you a head gasket. But better a head gasket than a piston............ The head gasket makes a nice safety fuse. The guys with the 6 bolt blocks won't have the luxury of a safety fuse.

Richard

 

I like the idea of this head gasket safety fuse when you put it like that! I know whatever it was that caused the head gasket to blow was due to early detonation caused by an lack of a proper tune, lack of sensors for high boosting(MAP, 2-bar, etc..) and the resulting improper fuel/air mixture i.e. running lean. Could of been worse, to tell you the truck. One of the first thing Rick said when he looked over the engine was it was built like a ROCK to run the way it did for that long of time on that kind of nasty oil.

 

can you do me a favor and clean those pistons up a little more

 

where did the gasket actually "blow" at? . . . between the pistons, or out the sides?

 

The head gaskets acting like a fuse is nothing new to some Ford customers of mine. They also have a 4 bolt head pattern.
We put some real high quality parts into that engine. They're holding up as designed. I'm happy to see the "rock" will still be rolling.

I like your sig...........

Richard

 

It blew on the driver's side bank out the back of the engine.