RWD 19xx-1984 DeVille and Fleetwood, 1985-1996 Fleetwood and Brougham ForumForum for discussions regarding the rear wheel drive Pre80s-1984 DeVille and Fleetwood, 1985-1996 Fleetwood/Brougham.
Hey guys, it's been a while since I posted because my Brougham has been running fine, well, until today. I think this extremely hot Florida summer finally did the ol' car in, cause today my passenger head gasket went with a a bang. I just shot coolant ALL over my driveway, total sprayer. So, since everything else on the car works fine, I figure I should fix it instead of send the car to the junkyard and get another beater. The question I have is how involved is the head gasket replacement on this car? I'm no dummy when it comes to mechanics and can swap the engine all day in my '67 Chevy, I've just noticed that this car has a lot of 80's GM gotchas, and I don't want to get in over my head. Is it pretty much a standard, carb'd, RWD kinda swap or am I going to have to yank every accessory out of the car to get the heads off?
It's just a regular old V8. You'll be fine. If you have swapped engines before, and torn one down, everything will be familiar. An intake gasket set, a head gasket, a few beers, and you'll be back in business...
It's just a regular old V8. You'll be fine. If you have swapped engines before, and torn one down, everything will be familiar. An intake gasket set, a head gasket, a few beers, and you'll be back in business...
That's what I wanted to hear! The exhaust was cake when I did it, but I'd rather die than do a water pump on that thing again. Looks like pizza and beer on me and I'll get some friends to help this weekend. Might get some power back too, I have no doubt that was blown for a while and it finally went all the way.
Yeah I was gonna say. Don't give the 307 too much credit
Though it's interesting to take a look on which engines survived.
* Buick 231 as the GM 3800-I, II and III (if not gone now, then by next year) (Chevy 229 was last known in 2bbl config and a real pig)
* 305 and 350 in various iterations (TPI, TBI, LT1 then L30/L31 Vortec in their last form and maybe still around in Marine use only)
* 265 made a brief showing as the L99 from 94-96 in Caprices only but this hardly counts (still stunned GM even bothered).
* 4.3L V6 is definitely still available in some fleet option pickups
Did I miss anything? I guess the 4.3 wins whatever contest I just made up....haha. But seriously, it was just the right size based off a great design (350) for power, efficiency and reliability. Oh and it's gotta cost GM all of $29 to build, right?
Blown head gasket 
