I'm reasonably sure I popped a head gasket with a no wastegate run in my Turbo 99. Smokes pretty good now. Engine is now out of the car and should be on the stand and I start tear down tonight. Going to take the head down to the machine shop and have it checked for being flat. While it's there I'm going to have them do valve stem seals. Who makes the good ones these days?

Same with head gasket. I'm only running 15 lb on a flying Miata setup so I don't know if that makes much of a difference. I do have a qmax coolant reroute in use with this system.

Lastly I've seen mixed responses on whether the head bolts are reusable or not. Do I need new head bolts? Do I need studs?

Anything else that I need to do while I'm in here? I was not the guy that built this thing I'm just the guy that owns it now and is fixing it as I go.

 

could smoke for a number of reasons but to be concise:
oem for both headgasket and valve stem seals. Mls gasket.

head bolts are not torque to yield, ive reused mine 3 times, but will be changing them out next time. You couldnt get a needle up my *** with a jackhammer whenever i was torquing those down that 3rd time. Anyways, if you have the money, pop some studs in and enjoy the feeling of knowing you just installed a part you never have to worry about again no matter what you do.

 

So, best place to get the oem mazda stuff? My dealer wants to retire on these parts....

And im not sure studs are justified here. But I'm definitely looking at them....

 

Ive got Mahle valve stem seals... Zero issues with them.

I think its the SuperTech valve stem seals that had a lot of issues, but might have been Felpro.

OEM MLS gasket.

Reuse the bolts or go to studs. $150 for studs is pretty cheap insurance IMO.

 

I run mazda seals and head gasket. On valve stem seals, I had issues with other brands. I've had good luck with fel pro head gaskets.

 

oem valve stem seals