Reply to "Cannot get my Pantera to cool"

quote:

Originally posted by jb1490:
If the heads were off recently, one or both head gaskets could have been installed backwards. Usually, the overheating occurs a little sooner than the your stated 10 minute time.

In the pic below, the red arrow on the left points to a large hole in the head gasket, and the red arrow on the right points to two small holes (some gaskets may only have one small hole instead of two).

The large hole goes to the REAR of the engine. The head gasket in the pic was installed BACKWARDS.

The teal arrow is pointing to a square corner of the head gasket. That square corner is ALWAYS at the front of the block. This makes it very easy to tell if the head gasket is installed correctly.

With iron heads, that square corner sticks out. With aluminum heads, that square corner may be covered by the head, but it is not covered by the block. Using your fingers, you can feel for the gasket. It's under the overhanging edge of the aluminum head.

John