head gasket help

[WILOWNU]

looking to put a new hg on my car. It is a 6bolt swap that was put in by the previous owner. he said he had it built and showed me a slew of receipts but after 10k miles i need to put a new head gasket on it. I am just wondering how to measure the size of hg I need. do I just measure the bore of the block? or what. any help is appreciated. thanks

 

[95burgundyesi]

6 bolt turbo block is 3.35 X 3.46 bore. I would call a local machine shop and ask them how they would figure it out. I would guess you could mic it to check the messurement.

 

[WILOWNU]

cool. also I am looking to push a healthy amount of boost out of my 30r, wondering if an oe composite hg would hold up to 28psi or if i would have to run mls. any ideas?

 

[blcknspo0ln]

I have no reservation about running a composite HG to ~32+psi. So long as you keep your knock and tuning under control, there is no need for running an MLS. If you do choose to run one, make sure you get the head/block finished accordingly.

 

[WILOWNU]

i think the previous owner went mls without the proper preperations and that is why I am needing to have it re-done. i believe the head might need decked. do i need to get a thicker hg to make up for the miniscule amount of material they will be removing?

 

[WILOWNU]

anyone know of a reputable shop in southern ohio/northern ky that can do a good dsm timing job and put the hg on? or Does anyone know of a person or is a person that is qualified and wants to make some cash?

 

[Freerevving]

I think the previous owner used ARP's and you probably need to retorque the head... but you'll have to remove it and clean the surfaces first

If you do find ARP's, and the HG isn't melted, warped, or pitted, I recommend re-using the HG and use some spray copper gasket

 

[blcknspo0ln]

I recommend re-using the HG and use some spray copper gasket

Which is fine and true if both mating surfaces are clean, straight, and FINISHED by a machinist. If the gasket has given way already, chances are the thing will not seal again if you reuse it. In that case, you need to have the head milled and the block decked to spec of whatever headgasket you are using. You simply cannot put on an MLS on an untested/untreated pair of mating surfaces.

 

[1992awdlaser]

I agree with everything Tom has said.

The stock bore size gasket is bigger than the actual bore itself and will be big enough for an engine that has been bored .040 over.

 

[WILOWNU]

thanks guys! I appreciate all of your input on this. I am looking to find a shop to do this for me since it is already getting cold here and I do not have access to a garage.

 

[Freerevving]

Which is fine and true if both mating surfaces are clean, straight, and FINISHED by a machinist. If the gasket has given way already, chances are the thing will not seal again if you reuse it. In that case, you need to have the head milled and the block decked to spec of whatever headgasket you are using. You simply cannot put on an MLS on an untested/untreated pair of mating surfaces.

Yeah I mostly agree with this. It's just that I've seen head gasket problems solved simply by re-torquing the ARP's... so there's a good chance you could get a good seal especially if you go the extra step and clean the surfaces. Of course, I agree it's not the right way and it's likely that it still won't seal.