3.8 Ford Head Gasket Questions

Ah, yes, the infamous 3.8. 60k-100k and they leak. The sweet smell of antifreeze at the exhaust pipe.

We did two of my son's T-Bird 3.8s. One was on a Supercoupe. Most important part is to get the heads milled for flatness. My machinist said if we didn't we'd be back in 6 months. We used the Fel Pro kit, which was specifically marketed for this problem. It includes the bolts. My son did some research and said Ford never did reengineer the problem.

Also, be sure to torque the head bolts in specific sequence. It's in ft/lb stages, and in a specific pattern. I went to a Ford garage to get info on how they did it.

MI2600,
Do they do it differently than what the Chiltons manual calls for? I have a book on them,Chilton's,not Haynes. I consider Haynes manuals to be good toilet paper in a pinch. If they do it differently,do you remember how you did it? Thanks man. One day,I swear before gas hits $3.00 a gallon for regular,I will get this done.

RC,

Yes, I wound up with two different methods/stages.. One in the Chilton book and another from my machinist. That's when I went to Ford and got their official FoMoCo expertise. Well...actually it was a Mercury dealer.