What am I doing wrong?

[1988GTU]

Pull the charge pipe and down pipe at the turbocharger. If there's oil present, you have a seal issue with the tc.

If nothing is evident, do a compression and coolant leak down test.

[Jonpro03]

No oil in the charge pipes. Coolant in the downpipe

Coolant in the rear center cylinder.

I tore it down to the heads but haven't pulled them off yet. I just can't find the motivation.

[pocket-rocket]

That's understandable, especially since this is set #2 in 2 weeks :/

[Joseph Upson]

I'll run this by the owner of a turbo 3500 Fiero owner I recently discovered who's motor has been in service for about 2.5 yrs now, not sure all of them are under boost though. If you use MLS gaskets make sure your contact surfaces have the correct RA. It's pretty low for the stock 3900 gaskets. Not sure if it's as crucial for composite gaskets. Sorry you have to go through this kind of struggle. I had to pull my turbo off and send it back for a rebuild due to an oil leak and I really didn't want to go through the trouble of pulling it off the car considering it had only seen about 1000 miles of use. I'd really be hurt facing a head gasket problem like this so I need to be grateful.

[Jonpro03]

Let me know what you hear. I'm just going to let the car sit in the garage until I'm not pissed off anymore. Then I'll pull some money out of my ass for some MLS gaskets.

Any recommendations on gasket size? I'd like to lower the stock CR since I'm boosting.

[Joseph Upson]

Let me know what you hear. I'm just going to let the car sit in the garage until I'm not pissed off anymore. Then I'll pull some money out of my ass for some MLS gaskets.
Any recommendations on gasket size? I'd like to lower the stock CR since I'm boosting.

I increased compression so you'll have to decide how low you need to go based on your intended boost level.

[Jonpro03]

14psi boost is what I'm shooting for. I read the article on gasket thickness, but it really only outlines how thin you can order them. I want the opposite. I want to know how thick I can get them. If I could get the CR around 8.5 to 1 I'd be happy.

[RedZMonte]

running a thick gasket is common in the Honda world... Inline Pro makes thick gaskets to lower compression for imports... check their site to get some details on thickness.

Hope this helps.

S

[Joseph Upson]

The Fiero 3500 is on a conservative 5 psi which for a 3500 gasket is probably the safe limit.

[Jonpro03]

Well, I know that I can order thicker MLS gaskets from WOT-TECH, I just don't know how thick.

[90BlueZ]

Email Ben, I'm sure he will be able to help you out

Just keep in mind that your issue is not compression ratio related as people are running 15psi all day with stock compression

[Jonpro03]

If you really don't think it would be necessary, than I won't worry about it. LOL

[3400-95-Modified]

I agree with the first statement, I'm not a fan of the Felpro HG's... I stick to 04+ GM ones and the ARP studs. Haven't had a problem yet and I'm spraying a 100 shot

I was going to go MLS but the design mess up and redesign time would have set me back and not allowed me to run the car last year so I just went with GM ones again. Maybe MLS next year or on the crazy nitrous motor I'm planning on building.

[2.8-350TBI]

Does anybody think that copper headgaskets are worth it?

[3400-95-Modified]

I think with the MLS option that we have now, no... But thats just me.