Especially as it's the drive pulley for the water pump, alternator, power steering and aircon. When they go bad, they can blow a belt, and you instantly have "manual" steering (think: stirring molasses with a paddle) and no cooling - good fun!

ive had a belt let go on my old ef and yeh steering went heavy as f**k half way through a corner and the charge light came on, pulled up n put it back on only to find it was stretched and wouldnt stay on more than 5 minutes, was an a**hole even though i only had 20 minutes from where i was to home, took me forever lol

Damn, not the news i had hoped for!

I'm still wanting to see what the cause of the combustion gases getting into the radiator were, ie warped head, head gasket or cracked head.

Do i need to fit a new harmonic balancer before undoing the camshaft sprocket bolt and getting into the head to see the cause of my initial problem?

Cheers

i'd just like to ad that the only way you would know that combustion gasses were in the cooling system was if you took it to a mechanic and he ran a "TK" test on it..

now the thing is that these tests are notoriously bad in that they do provide a large number of false positives if not done correctly..

what are the other signs showing you have a blown headgeasket or cracked head?

It was diagnosed through having a tk test, where clear bluish liquid changed colour to a yellowish substance. That and obscene amounts of pressure getting under the radiator cap to the point of needing to release it every time i drove because it felt like it was going to blow out from somewhere eventually.

thats what my car was doin and i put $10 seal up in it haha, still holding after 2 months

Just for any one els thinking of doing this at home.
There is no need to completely remove the intake manifold, all you need to do is remove the bolts holding it to the head. The two support brackets will hold it in place.

I tried that unfortunately it didn't hold what so ever.

Hmm so do i need to replace the harmonic balancer before taking the head off? I'm up to removing the camshaft sprocket bolt, i got stuck where the balancer didn't line up with the timing case along with the sprocket line being 3mm above the head.

Update:

I got the head off today and took it down to the local engineer, he had a look and unfortunately there's a crack near cylinder 3

He recommended finding another head and having him have a look at it. So i did, i found an 91aa off an eb head down the local wreckers that had been semi reconditioned. I was told 3 valves were stuffed but i could use the ones out of mine. So i paid $100 for the head thinking i wouldn't have to be concerned about valve machining costs. I asked the wrecker if i was able to get it tested and brought back if it wasn't up to scratch.

So anyway i took it back down to the engineer and he said it would cost me $180 to get the valves grinded etc 60 to get the head shaved 40, to get it tested and would need a new rocker cover to fit the eb head. Also corrosion was appearing at the rear where coolant circulates. "insert swear words here"

I'm hoping i can get my $100 back and then think it through a bit more as to what to do?! My head is in better condition overall then the piece of crap i bought.

I'm happy i know the cause now, but at the same time disappointed its not just the gasket.

What would people do if it were their car? bare in mind it was running pretty good apart from the combustion gases getting into the coolant. Only other things i can think of that were needed to be fixed eventually is new shock absorbers in the front and rear and the front right disc brake fixed due to shuttering under brakes going downhill at high speeds.

Other then those issues its a good car.

Well, i got the $100 back for the dodgy head. I need to applaud the wreckers for doing that, much appreciated!

Now i really want some advice from people being in a similar position to the one I'm in right now

1. Fix my current head? its just a slight crack, isn't all the way through. I'm not sure of the cost to fix it.

2. Buy a used head and hopefully the valves etc are in good condition and all that's required is a shave.

3. Buy a brand new head, while expensive its a long term gain.

4. Purchase a new engine to slot into the EF falcon, local wreckers has an EL for $550 thats done 166k and an ef thats done 180 for $450.

5. Purchase a new car and sell whats left of mine to the wreckers.

Obviously I'm looking to do this a cost effective way. I'm not sure whether I'll find a good used head that will just need a shave and then bolt that straight down. Maybe fixing my head could be the cheapest option? or whacking in a used engine that's been tested.

I really don't know what to do here!

Thanks,

Andy

i went through a similar process about a month ago all u ask your self is how long do u want the car for if its a few years get a reco head. also swapping engines is a fair bit of work i did it in my mates eb and i swore id never do tht sort of thing again. but thts just me.

Look in the forsale section of this thread. Im sure thered be a not f**k head for sale under 100bucks.
But don't reuse the cracked head.
No point installing a cracked head with new gasket, headbolts and effort. It'll just blow again.

Here is one in Victoria for you.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ford-Falcon- ... 3cbab2f645

As mentioned above, do you want to keep the car for long or just to get you by until you find a better car?

I personally would get a reconditioned head. That should last you a while longer unless there is damage to the block and I believe most cost effective. Don't need to second guess about the quality of second hand head and then getting it fixed if it's stuffed.

If you're not much in a hurry and feel like a project, get a second hand motor, chuck it in and hope it will last you a short while. In the mean time, fix your current engine from top to bottom, new welsh plugs, timing chain/guides, rear mains, seals, heater bypass pipe, new balancer, recon head and anything else you think needs doing. Swap engines back with new hoses and resell the second hand motor...but obviously this isn't cost effective...but your engine will last longer.

Buy a later modle head and have it reco'd. the other head was only going to cost you $300 in total, thats getting out of it pretty cheap. How cheap do you want to be?