Head Gasket

[mkjc211]

Has anyone had problems with head gastkets??? I have replaced the head gasket twice this year. The first time around I had the head resurfaced and brought a head gasket set from autozone. What a piece of crap. The gasket blew less than 4000 miles later. Then I did it again thinking maybe I didn't torque the head down correctly. I I torque everthing down again but this time plus 5lbs. Well 3 months later same thing. I have my head in the machine shop again getting resurfaced and a valve job done. Are these felpro gaskets just crap or am i just doing something wrong??? And another thing, DO head bolts need to be replace with new ones or can they be reused. I this is my last and final attempt at fixing this. I'm running 18lbs on big 16g with 2.5 exhaust with race pipe. Please help.

[Jason's TSI]

I am going through the same problem right now. I have blown three fel-pro head gaskets, they are crap, I put a fel-pro gasket on and blew it in a week, resurfaced the head, blew a new gasket, got ARP head studs, and blew another new gasket. I am resurfacing my head and using a four layer metal head gasket from turbotrix, I hope this does the trick.

[Cooter]

metal head gaskets don't like to be put into a motor that isn't freshly decked... on both sides... they tend to seal for a while (month or two) and then start leaking coolant and leaking into other cylinders... something to keep in mind, at least thats the experience i've (people i know, i mean) had with greddy's and hks gaskets... have you looked at the whole picture... i mean you can tell exactly what heppened by inspecting the block, head and gasket, if you know what your looking for... on the other hand, the fel-pro's might not be up to par on a boosted application, the stock one seems to work great for a moderate hp level, and personally factory parts are the best engineered parts IMO, one other alternative you may want to look into is a copper head gasket... they seal real good, as long as you use silicone around the water jackets... and are re-useable... if you find yourself tearing down your motor a lot....

Cooter
http://www.sound-performance.com

[Jason's TSI]

I looked into a copper head gasket and Summit told me the block HAD to be o-ringed to use this gasket. I would feel alot better about the metal head gasket if I could resurface my deck, but I just built this motor two months ago and would really not like pulling it out and taking it apart again, although I am going to check it with a straight edge.

[greenstreak]

I have heard so many bad experiences from DSMers using Fel-blow head gaskets. I know of 2 guys that had multiple problems with Fel-pro and then went to the stocker with ARPs and have been fine since. Both of these guys are running 16Gs at no more than 20lbs.

[Le Talon]

I have the multi layered Mitsu metal head gasket (the one Magnus sells), decked and polished block and head, ARP studs and so far, it's been perfect! I never ran more than 23-24psi though...

I did blow up a stock Mitsu gasket last year, but that was after running somewhat lean at 24psi... otherwise, stockers are pretty good too.

[mkjc211]

If I use the stock head bolts up to how many lbs of boost can I run?

[Rdy2race]

on may 92 and up car the head bolts are what are called "torque to yeald" this means that the bolts get longer with every useage. If the car has a 7 bolt motor in it, it will have the bolts the SHOULD be at LEAST be checked. ( measured lenth ) IMHO spend the cash and use new bolts or stud the block.

Unless you makeing some major power use the FACTORY mutsu gasket not the metal one. Like it was said before the block should be decked to use that metal gasket.

In most cases the factory gasket will stand up to a lot of abuse.

mkjc211 for a stock motor at about 20 PSI the head starts to lifty off the block. it's not a problem of the gasket but the bolts. Head studs are needed for safe operation above 20-22PSI

[galantvr41062]

if you are given an anitial lb/ft of torqe then a deg of rotation after that they are torque to yield and CAN NOT be reused due to streatch but I am going with the ARP head studs and I will have the cryo treated along with my entire head and engine. I would use the stock head gasket though.

~John

[95GST]

Originally posted by Rdy2race

Unless you makeing some major power use the FACTORY mutsu gasket not the metal one. Like it was said before the block should be decked to use that metal gasket.


I was wondering if choosing HG has to do with boost levels, not power levels?

If I only want to run 20 PSI or less, should I stick with stock gasket, not metal?

one car maybe running 24 PSI on a 16G and the other making the same POWER running 20 PSI on 20G (just a lame example)

Would that mean the 16G car should consider a metal HG because is running higher BOOST?

[galantvr41062]

I have not herd of a head gasket blowing from to much psi but I do hear a lot that after like ~17psi teh had studs start to streach(1stg) but I would get a metal gasket of some kind if I were running more that 25psi but I would have to deck the head and mill the block so there would be no chance for the metal head gasket to blow out.

~John

[95GST]

I am going with ARP head studs and I don't plan to run over 20 PSI. the stock gasket should be able to take that. I am considering to go with mitsu metal HG too, but I just realized it will be a bit higher than the stock one I will loose compression. I think my head don't need to be decked, not that much to compensate for the metal HG anyway

[97AWDTSi]

I have had my share of blown head gaskets. What I have seen thus far is this.

Psi means nothing. CFM means everything.

Stock Turbo at 1bar (14.5lbs) flows 200+ CFM.
20G Turbo at 1bar (14.5lbs) flows 500+ CFM.

Don't quote these #'s; just an example.

Monsterous difference in the amount of air that is being forced throw the entire system. In and Out.

The more air you can make freely flow throughout your system, the more power the motor will make without lefting the head. <taking out the detonation factor, of course>

IMHO, the majority of blown head gaskets are due to denotation, and not lifting.

[jayntguru]

Actually, you've got it all wrong. Just because turbo X is xx CFM at 15 PSI and turbo Y is YY CFM at 15 PSI does not mean that the engine is ingesting that much more air.

15 PSI is 15 PSI no matter what you do to it.

Imagine this, the engine is an air pump, the engine holds a static volume of air for each revolution. So you throw 15 PSI of air pressure in there. What changes? Higher cylinder pressure. Throw on a bigger turbo, guess what? 15 PSI still, still pressure stays the same.

The gains from a larger turbo at the same PSI of boost are from cooler intake temps, and increased flow due to freeer flowing exhaust (larger turbine and turbine housing).

If you don't believe me, read the last 3 issues of "Sport Compact Car" and the turbo articles. Is goes into great detail about this topic, and shows you how to use math to figure out the airflow needed at XX RPM four engine, etc.

I have a big email at home with all of the equations in it. Good stuff.