What head gasket are you using

[OutToWinPAHC]

I am just reading through stuff because I am rebuilding my motor top to bottom with a lot of goodies. Currently sitting in a 400-500 hp depending on boost. So I would like to know

1- What HG are you using?
2- Did you mill head / deck block?
3- How long have you been using it
4- Power/torque and how often is the vehicle used
5- Pro's/Cons/Recommendation

[240z4u]

Stock gasket and ARP studs. 30psi through a holset HX35. Nothing special done. My lower end isn't built. I am at higher risk of breaking ringlands than taking out a HG. I have also overheated this car once badly without any ill effects. Gasket went in 5 years ago. Maybe 30k miles on it.

[RRRRB]

I am just reading through stuff because I am rebuilding my motor top to bottom with a lot of goodies. Currently sitting in a 400-500 hp depending on boost. So I would like to know

1- What HG are you using?
Cometic .060

2- Did you mill head / deck block?
YES

3- How long have you been using it
ive had 2 over the course of 3 years, changed due to setup, not any issue with either 1 has a combined mileage about 11k

4- Power/torque and how often is the vehicle used
about 480whp

5- Pro's/Cons/Recommendation
I see people complain and whine about these gaskets, i've used them on a few builds 2 being on the RB and another on my Honda

Never had i had an overheating issue coolant loss or sealing problems..

Honda makes just over 600whp

240 will be about 700 eventually...(hopefully)

[Carl H]

1. stock w arp
2. yes
3. 2.5 years, over 50kmi.
4. ~430 peak torque on dynodynamics dyno.
5. its cheap and effective...if you're blowing out headgaskets you've got bigger problems.

no problems using stock composite gaskets, dynotuned the car up to 25psi and it saw an overboost of 30+ once and is not leaking.

[OutToWinPAHC]

I have had a few people, Nas at pride performance, The guys at PSI pro, and the machine shop all tell me cosworth. So I am leaning there now. Not blowing gaskets, but I need to rebuild.

[RRRRB]

i think you might need more than a rebuild.. thats pretty f*** up

[Carl H]

looks like oil starvation to the head...what do your mains look like?

[gawdzilla]

1. cometic with arps
2. yes, both
3. 7+ years now?
4. about 500hp/400tq, probably more hard track miles than street. ~20kmiles?
5. cometic seems to work ok in my case, but others have had problems with it sealing. cosworth and apex-i seem to be the crowd favorites. whatever you do you need to machine at least the head to ensure a good seal with these MLS gaskets. some people like copper spraying.. i didn't. if you're skipping machining altogether, i'd recommend sticking with the stock gasket. follow the arp tq specs. i also did the retorque for peace of mind but at a later time than recommended.

[Darius]

+1 Pretty much the same as gawdzilla except most of the miles on mine are spirited street driving or daily driving with the occassional drag track appearance.

I had problems getting a cometic to seal even after resurfacing the head and block and did not use copper spray. I had to retorque the head after 100 miles because it started leaking coolant. It has been fine since then.

[OutToWinPAHC]

looks like oil starvation to the head...what do your mains look like?

Not sure its goint to the machine shop with a new head. I got a new long block if needed. Hopefully the bottom end is good but the plan is hone, rings, bearings and rebalance. The cause was a previous shop who had the timing belt too tight and off track. The exhaust cam walked

[Carl H]

ive found that using arp studs they tend to stretch after a few hundred miles post install but once they do they dont do it again.
i'll install the hg with the studs, cycle like you're supposed to and do a retorque 200 miles later once its had some boost through it.
seems to work well.

[Darius]

ive found that using arp studs they tend to stretch after a few hundred miles post install but once they do they dont do it again.
i'll install the hg with the studs, cycle like you're supposed to and do a retorque 200 miles later once its had some boost through it.
seems to work well.

That is exactly what worked with mine but the only problem was that I had HKS cams in and they don't have reliefs cut in them to allow access to the head studs. So I had to pull my cams and timing belt to access the head studs for retorquing. Should have bought Tomei Poncams...

[lexcrob]

I dont think that would be from over tightening timing belt as ive seen timing gears break from that sort of thing. Im gonna point at stuff in the oil or even more so....> maybe got banged during cam installation or removal. Possibly from banging out the camshaft if they have been removed as they get hung up in that front journal sometimes.(both of mine did) Im suprised it didnt completely burn up and discolor like ive seen on subaru cam journals.

Im not an rb specialist but i see tons of FUBAR cyl. heads wrenchin at the subie dealership.
just my 2 cents

On the ARP thing I had a chat with a machine shop I really like and they said they torque and detorque 3 times to arp spec. Then go back for final! Sounds like a workout to me.....

[OutToWinPAHC]

We'll I have decided to go with Apexi / power enterprises

[Booztd 3]

Tomei HG w/ARP
Stock block/head
4-5 years
800+ rwhp (weekend warrior....rarely gets driven easy)
Set it and forget it....