[leejoy]

Help

I may be changing the head gaskets on my BBC. What type of gaskets (brand and type) should I use? There are many out there and it's confusing. Some are like $30 each and some are like $200 each - made from different materials. My motor is for street/strip use, about 500 HP, has 10:1 compression, no nitrous, no supercharger.

thanks

Lee

[machine shop tom]

You can't go wrong using the Fel-Pro race 1000 series. What's your exact application?

tom

[leejoy]

Originally Posted by machine shop tom

You can't go wrong using the Fel-Pro race 1000 series. What's your exact application?

tom

I guess I don't know my exact application. I have a 1979 454 block with a .060 overbore. I have Iron oval port heads (ported/polished) 101cc closed chamber , Extreme energy hydraulic flat tappet cam, dual plane intake, 10:1 comp ratio, Demon 850 carb, no nitrous, no supercharer or turbo. Pretty basic. Mostly street car. Has 3-speed trans, 3000 stall converter, 3.90 gear. If I recall, the last head gaskets I got a couple years ago were about $55 each. I've seen these high performance copper gaskets for like $200 each. Who can afford that?

Also, does it matter what thickness I get? If I went a little thinner that would increase my compression ratio but may sacrifice gasket sealing - is that true?

[firestone]

I don't know about the gasket sealing issue, but it will most likely improve your performance to go as thin as you can. It depends on how far your pistons are in the hole. Quench is measured as the gasket thickness plus the distance the pistons are in the hole. Optimum quench is around .04 to .045. Having this variable correct will help with creating a homogeneous fuel/air mix in the cylinder which will lessen the chances for pinging.

Adam

[topfuel]

I use the 1000 series Fel Pro gaskets that Tom mentioned above on my 433. It dynoed at 651h.p. and has an NOS Big Shot 250 hp system on top of that. No head gasket issues. Use good fasteners such as ARP too.