loose head bolts ?

[Greg McClain]

On diving into a project 940T apparently needing a head gasket, I found the head bolts somewhat loose. The car shows evidence of having boiled out most of its coolant, melted some of the timing belt back cover and melted the plastic in the coolant sensors. I see no evidence of any cracks or breaks in the head gasket. The car sat for two years after someone abandoned the project. I do plan to have the head evaluated before I put much more into it. Any ideas about what happened and anything else I should check?

[billofdurham]

I would hazard a guess that the head gasket went or the cooling system ran dry and everything became a tad warm. Then someone started to repair things, loosened the head bolts and gave up.

With the heads fitted to these cars whenever a head gasket is replaced it is imperative that the head is checked for warping and skimmed if necessary.

Specifications for the head are:
Minimum head height: 5.752" (146.1 mm)
Maximum warp crosswise 0.02" (0.50 mm)
Maximum warp lengthwise 0.04" (1.0 mm)

A good machine shop will be able to check this for you.

Bill.