Who knows dude. I just don't want to instantly point the finger at my tuner ya know? I have to take all things in consideration. ARP studs being properly tq'd, the ILP head gasket itself and its reputation, the tune itself and me seeing NO sign of detonation etc etc.

What if I had a misfire due to spark blowing out at 21 psi? Would that little bit of stress cause that to pop a gasket?

 

Your timing is different from 12-16 psi. Don't look at the column numbers, look just below it and the psi is listed.

 

That timing map looks pretty aggressive. You gotta take into consideration that the VE of the motor will change from the dyno to the streets.

 

Thats true. Once the head gasket is doing what its doing, is it possible to just take away some timing, turn down the boost and it be alright? Or should I just start pulling the head today?

 

Just replace it with an oem gasket. If the head lifts ,the gasket is pretty much junk. You might be able to get away with turning the boost down and pulling timing, but it will happen again sooner or later

 

How aggressive does the timing look? dangerous or a hair?

 

Thats more then I would run but that's just my opinion. There are plenty of variables to answer that question. Ive seen timing maps that were way jacked up just to make up for the actual timing at the motor. I am not doubting the tuner, Im sure he knows what hes doing. I would throw a oem gasket on and have him redo it. Higher compression, less timing and e85 will still make some power.

 

lifting ARP studs???? nah bruh. looking through those tables shows the problem. waaaaaaay too much advance in the timing. sucks to hear.

 

Would it be worth a shot to re torque the studs to 90 ft lbs and hope that helps the head from lifting?

 

Everytime we added timing, it liked it and made 15-18 hp. Like I said, on the last run we added 1.5 deg of timing at 21 psi and it made another 14 hp.

596whp @ 21 psi - 21 deg timing

610whp @ 21 psi - 22.5 deg timing

The 22 psi column is at 23 deg so Im assuming 21 is about a half deg less.

With the jump of 14 hp that tells me that it still wanted more. We checked the plugs and it just started to make the bend on the grounding strap before that 1.5 deg +. The graph doesnt show any detonation, the plugs didnt show much of anything either. I mean... am I wrong??

Its hard to say what is and isnt a ton of timing without actually being on the dyno and seeing results. Also take into consideration the slight difference of actual and table timing due to clocked the cam gear for the 3mm headgasket. Like I said, im no tuner but when I see a car making more power than 5-10hp when adding a deg, it seems like it still has a tad bit of room.

Now, FullBlow says that VE changes from the dyno to the street. This may be the case.