I just got a new rebuilt performance head for my 96 ld9. The head was shaved 10000ths from stock. What head gasket would you guys recommend? Should I go with a slightly thicker head gasket? The motor is N/A by the way.
You shouldnt need a thicker gasket, its not enough to make a noticable difference. You could spend the cash and get a cometic but Ive always had good luck with felpro.
Just wanted to make sure. I have a felpro gasket, that came with the head set. So I guess Ill use that. Whats the advantages of the cometic?
The cometic is just a higher end brand. I guess they are constructed differently...with a higher quality.
i decked my head .020 (20 thousanths)... put 15k miles on it with an OEM Gasket. Worked fine up to the day i pulled the motor to rebuild the block.
decking your head, although ever so slightly, raises compression. Putting a thicker head gasket on will reduce compression.
Yea if your n/a I would use the stock gasket or a cometic stock thickness.Most use cometic because of the thickness available, I have a .074" thicker gasket for my boost build.
the fel pro is a paper or 'perma torque' gasket. the cometic is a multi-layer-steel gasket. completely different.
if you are staying n/a i would try and get the absolute thinest gasket possible to take advantage of even more compression.
Trailer Queen corvette wanna-be with 40 coats of wax and powdercoating that soaks in.
Boosted or N/A I would use a stock graphite gasket. Fel Pro HGs suck and my Cometic experience is one that I wish to never repeat.
^^^ explain
Trailer Queen corvette wanna-be with 40 coats of wax and powdercoating that soaks in.
im not sure about him but to this day i still have a cometic i ordered and when i put it on my block the gasket over hung the piston bores since i had the block bored so i never used it. i still have it around somewhere if anyone wants it
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2623318
I had to pull the head three weekends in a row due to the Cometic leaking between the layers. I installed it exactly as they said to, used the surface finish they claimed was required, and used the exact torque they told me to use. I reused an old one the first time because it gave me no issues before. I was in a pinch and hoped it would work. It leaked after 200 miles. Replaced it with a new one (the two I ordered finally showed up), drove 200 miles and it started leaking. Replaced it yet again with a new one and after 200 miles it too was leaking. All three leaked from between the layers. The last one was overtorqued as an attempt to maybe get it to seal better. My final attempt was to drill out the rivets from the first one and use copper spray gasket on both sides of all the layers. That finally stopped the leak. I never once had it leak from between the gasket and head or block, just from between the individual layers of the gasket.
well wtf that f'n sucks. i have three of them LOL not looking forward to a leaking head gasket on this brand new engine... did you use arp studs?
and jared... you gotta make sure you get the right sized fire rings. cometic sells different sizes...
Trailer Queen corvette wanna-be with 40 coats of wax and powdercoating that soaks in.
Ill be using arp studs and am prolly gona coat the layers of my cometic with the copper spray. I actualy jut read an article about doing this on mls hg's in Modified mag I think it was.
I used ARP head studs. Even with a stock gasket I used them. My 98 with no performance upgrades has ARP head studs in it. I didnt feel like getting new bolts when I changed the HG.
well blow me down. i guess a can of copper spray here i come....
Trailer Queen corvette wanna-be with 40 coats of wax and powdercoating that soaks in.
Copper spray is an amazing product when dealing with steel gaskets.
As an aside to this.
Shaving the head/running a thinner head gasket on a OHC motor will affect cam timing.
Which can be 1 degree per 0.010.
Just thought I'd add that.
does that thicken up the gasket at all? and did you rerivet it afterwards?
Im sure it added some to the overall thickness. I just used the alignment dowels for the head to hold the gasket in the correct spot. I ran it for 16.5K without a single issue. Sure beats the 200 miles I was getting without the copper spray.
Thanks for the info guys. I ended up using the felpro gasket. Hell, if the stock HG lasted this long, I should be good for some time. Also was sort of in a rush, so had to use what I had
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, January 13, 2010 9:35 PM
