bastarddsm said:

I don't know what's safe, all I know is that my car runs 140s, it's 3300, street tuned, and I do with with standard arps and a cheap hg. My timing is more than you, at similar boost. And I'd still consider it conservative.

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Im not saying It cant be done, In fact now that I understand dsmlink better im pretty confident I could make any headgasket work to an extent. Im looking forward to getting my Auto build going so I can really turn it up and not be afraid to damage anything.

HKS or Power Enterprise HG for the win all day!!! Now if I only knew how to assemble a bottom end myself.Tired of paying the machine shop to assemble.

ceedawg said:

HKS or Power Enterprise HG for the win all day!!! Now if I only knew how to assemble a bottom end myself.Tired of paying the machine shop to assemble.

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I wish everyone was closer.... could have a barbeque and have an engine assembly class

livedsm4g63 said:

What would happen if you installed them and they were already into the elastic deformation of the material, yet they didnt break on install? The first time the engine sees higher cylinder pressures it could snap the stud/bolt. Yes you may argue that the other bolts may not be into the elastic deformation of the material however if one is there, its safe to say the rest are around/near that limit.
Long story short, chances are you would have pushed coolant out of the system between the head and block. This may only happen under higher loads, or if it was real bad, it would leak all the time. Hard to say however neither are good.

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Thanks for clarifying. I did think that might be the case just was not sure. Nevertheless, I am still puzzled by the failure at such low torque and how to prevent that happening next time....unless one buys new set every time the head is off. Even the video above mentioned torques of 87 lb/ft as nothing spectacular. I posted a few comments around June in this thread asking how safe it was to go over the Mitsu spec just to make sure I don't end up with a broken bolt in my block. And I used beam torque wrench which is simpler and more reliable than clickers (i.e. mine that was broken) to make sure I dont over torque. And the bloody thing still snapped. So I dont know....new set each time? Gets expensive quickly.

amsrn13 said:

Thanks for that.....I try to give back as much as i have taken. The hks gasket is a work of art. Youll have no problems. Trust me.

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I have a used HKS gasket w/ about 50-70K on it. It's dirty but structurally fine (as I see it)...other than faint impressions of the head and block in the gasket. Could it be reused for another, non-boosted, motor?

sacrileger said:

I have a used HKS gasket w/ about 50-70K on it. It's dirty but structurally fine (as I see it)...other than faint impressions of the head and block in the gasket. Could it be reused for another, non-boosted, motor?

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I personally wouldnt reuse a gasket, ive heard of guys having success though. I dont feel like the work involved is worth taking a risk to he honest with you.

sacrileger said:

new set each time? Gets expensive quickly.

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$100 for piece of mind.
Typically Ill reuse a set once, after that, Ill just buy a new set.
Also, please never reuse a head gasket. You'll only be asking for trouble

amsrn13 said:

I guess what im saying is for guys just starting out. Dont overthink it, make sure your head and block are flat and torque the f***ing head down. The key is.....get the car tuned properly-period. No...well ill just take it up the street and boost a little. Ask me how i know. The best thing i did was switch to a 2g timing table and go from there. What I didnt understand at the begining was what everyone meant by timing at "peak" not necessarily peak timing. One can be taken as the highest timing value you ran on the table vs the amount of timing during peak load/boost. The stock motor saw 20+ degrees of timing spraying meth on 93 with a composite.... this was the result after 5 months of abuse. You live and you learn.I am currently building a auto talon for drag, the new engine i built is going in it. I plan on pushing this car to the limit....

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Im late in the party but isnt this damage is from lifting the head, not from a blown head gasket? Your head gasket is still structurally intact.

It might be worth while to re torque the heads after a few race passes

chrysler kid said:

Im late in the party but isnt this damage is from lifting the head, not from a blown head gasket? Your head gasket is still structurally intact.

It might be worth while to re torque the heads after a few race passes

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http://www.felpro.com/technical/technical-bulletins/installation-guides/cylinder-head-lift.html This is a good read, my point is for the newb tuner..... excessive timing can lead to excessive cylinder pressures leading to knock ie head lift. I would venture to guess most guys are running arp studs. I have used every gasket type available ranging from oem to fel pro to hks. Always retorquing them at a set amount of run time. The head and block were milled flat. I was just running to much timing period.