should I make holes in my head gasket to accomodate passages

[whitebroncoii87]

hi, my felpro head gaskets are missing a bunch of holes to match the passage holes in my engine block, should I make them with a hole puncher? Thank you!

 

[RonD]

No, as long as you got a gasket set for a Ranger engine use it as is.

All the passages won't be open, this is to create a direction of flow thru the block and heads.

Ranger engines are mount longitudinally, north-south, so have coolant flowing front to back then to front again.
Front wheel drive vehicles usually have Transverse, east-west, mounted engines, they use different head gaskets to get flow front to back and then out to rad

 

[whitebroncoii87]

Oh ok. I do notice tiny holes in felpro where engine block passage holes are. Are those for breather? Not sure how the physics works but why don't they just block out those passages in the engine block to begin with?

 

[adsm08]

Most engines are designed for use in multiple vehicles, and different engine bays or engine mounting configurations (longitudinal vs transverse mounting) require different coolant flow paths. This means that you need lots of coolant passages, and not all of them will be used in every application. As Ron said, some may be blocked off or opened up to create a certain direction of coolant flow.


For example the 3.0 Vulcan engine is used in Rangers and Tauruses. In the Ranger it is longitudinal, in the Taurus it is transverse. In the Ranger you need coolant to run to the back of the engine as quickly as possible to keep the rear cool because it gets no air flow.

In the Taurus you need the same thing, but what is the "rear" of the engine compared to the car is now what would have been the right side of the engine in the Ranger. A Taurus engine in a Ranger, with Taurus head gaskets over heats. A Ranger engine in a Taurus with Ranger head gaskets does the same thing.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Make sure you have the gaskets going the right way too, they are not always symmetrical front to rear.

I don't know what engine you are working on but anything out of a '87 BII (2.9) should only be in RWD vehicles.

 

[RonD]

Oh ok. I do notice tiny holes in felpro where engine block passage holes are. Are those for breather? Not sure how the physics works but why don't they just block out those passages in the engine block to begin with?

The smaller holes create a higher velocity in the flow, like when you put your finger over the end of a garden hose to get the water to increase it's speed to go farther, to squirt out, you reduce the size of the opening with your finger.

The smaller holes also create equal dispersion, like on a sprinkler, several smaller holes means each hole gets about the same amount of flow, so the flow in the head is equal front to back.

The hole sizes in the block and head are larger because they are cast with molten metal in a sand mold, it is just easier to cast larger holes and get the sand out afterwards, to cast the smaller holes like the gasket has would also require extra machining and then it would create an alignment issue between block and head.
Just casting the larger holes and using the gasket to set hole size does the same thing with a lower cost.

 

[whitebroncoii87]

i tried to put in the gasket a felpro brand but it has a weird fit when I lay it over the engine block.. I only have 2 choices in my local auto parts store and the other being victor reinz gaskets. I notice looking at them side by side on the website they are upside down of each other, I'm looking at the lefthand side gaskets, the 2 in the middle here http://www.autozone.com/gaskets/hea...filterByKeyWord=head+gasket&fromString=search

I'm thinking to bring back the felpro and get victorr reinz, but should I just flip my felpro upside down and install it that way? By the way the hole in the felpro for the dowel to go through is too small.. what gives??!

 

[RonD]

Gaskets are usually labeled "top" and some also have "front" and even RH(right hand), LH for "V" engines, and the two dowel holes must fit, that is the alignment for the gasket, and the head when it goes on, so you do have the wrong gasket.
And generally the dowel holes are on opposite corners so the gasket will only go on one way.

Do you know that the engine has never been swapped?
gaskets can and do change over the years even on the same engine.
If you have the old gasket take it with you to the parts store.

 

[whitebroncoii87]

Do you know that the engine has never been swapped?
gaskets can and do change over the years even on the same engine.
If you have the old gasket take it with you to the parts store.

possible the engine in there is not stock. how do i check my engine year? thank you!

 

[AllanD]

the coolant passages in the block and heads are sized the way ty are to facilitate removing the casting sand at the foundry

the holes in the gasket are sized for the intended amount of water flow...

 

[RonD]

A casting number on the head might help get the year or close to it as far as a gasket fitting.

Take old gasket in and get parts store to match it, there are usually only 2 or 3 different gaskets