19 16v headgasket??

Newbie Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 3

Ok i bought a H reg 19 16v for Â£100 i knew it had a few faults wanted new discs pads front shocks a core plug some bodywork and had a
few wiring issues, mainly fuses and earth probs, but it sounded like a project and i fancied it as a track car.
Good points were lowered suspension, gas flowed head, full scorpian system, piper cams, superchip, black diamond clutch, prima racing comp headgasket and a k&n.
Anyway got the above probs sorted and booked track day. All was fine on the 20 mile trip there but as soon as we got on track after a couple of laps the temp went rightup and the tank boiled over and the car would hesitate under full acceleration.
This pretty much continued all day, even when i hooked the fan to stay on, we would just top it up and go again.
So its boiling over when used hard, hesitating when used hard, using alot of water,missing on cold start and has started to smoke from exhaust sometimes.
Does this sound like a headgasket? Didnt think it would hold out for
as long as it has?
Is a headgasket easy to do on these any help would be great.
Cheers

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

could be a lot of things. Like stuck thermostat, dodgy rad cap, dicky water pump, blocked radiator, dodgy sealant may have been poured in etc.

The fact is hesitated would tell anytone that its partially siezed from the heat so the bores will be damaged as well iwould imagine.

Headgaskets not to hard.

Mr Quoter-vator Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 7405

whatever it was ur gunna fuck it up by continuing to thrash it on a track! didnt u think something was wrong and maybe you should stop thrashing it?

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

Newbie Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 3

Yeah looking back shouldnt have carried on using it but its cost me hardly
anything.
What should i do as far as checks go then?

Site Subscriber Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 3547

is there a mayo colour in the oil cap? check pretty much anything, you could uncover a major problem on its way and get it sorted before it all goes tits up.