Head Gasket Gone

[aa120n]

got a mobile mech comin to look at my car today or tomorrow, to confirm my suspishions of my head gasket going/gone :ffs:

is there anything i can do while the head is off that will increase performance when it's all back together and workin fine again?

and what is toyota red? and is it any good.?

[Rash@R.A.Motors]

Toyota red - I think you mean the coolant 'Toyota For Life' which is red - any good - YES! Then again i may be wrong.

Rash.

[mikeb]

Yeah Toyota '4life' coolant is great. I changed the original coolant after it was in for 12 years, and it still didn't look too bad. Probably not recommended though.

While the head is off you should get it skimmed to make sure you've got a perfectly flat surface to seal the new gasket against. A normal refacing skim will only take a tiny amount off and barely affect compression ratio. But if you take skim a bit more off, a bit more compression ought to increase power a bit. You might need to !Removed! the ignition if you get knock though.

You could also get the head rebuilt (new valve stem seals, cam seals, valve seats). Longer duration cams will give you higher peak power, at the expense of bottom end, but you will likely need a unichip or similar and dyno time to set it all up.