Should i use a $40 headgasket from advanced auto?

[l7inthegst]

I have a 92 talon tsi with evo 8 fuel pump, evo 8 injectors and running 15 pounds of boost. I recently just blew my headgasket and i was calling around to advanced and napa stores, and i found a $40 Fel-Pro headgasket from Advanced auto and i was wondering if this would be a good idea for my car, i really dont want to pull the head off and replace another one. What do you think would it be a bad idea to go with the $40 Fel-pro head gasket?

 

[donniekak]

, i dont even know what to say after that, anyways. Where are these people running 10s on felpro 30+psi? Id like to see how long they lasted. By chance have a link?

There are only 2 gasket types that are used with stainless steel o rings, composite, and copper. The o ring seals the cylinders. A copper o ring is used with mls gaskets, doesn't really add much. It's not about being cheap, it's about sealing high cylinder pressures with a gasket that doesn't weep coolant/oil. I also tear down a few times a year. If i resurfaced my head and block everytime, as you should with mls, i would be buying new heads and blocks all the time. I personally run 28-30 psi daily on my car, and have had cars i ran 38 psi on daily. I don't really care what you read on the interweb, i know what works from actually using different products, pushed to the max.

 

[gstryyder]

those felpro gaskets are good gaskets. Would be the only gasket brand I would buy at any auto parts store. And gasket you don't buy oem or better... You buy nothing less than felpro. They are a great company with good products.

 

[BlackMount]

I do lots of head gasket jobs for friends + Family and I always use Fel-pro HG's. Cheapest I've paid for one was 15$, and not one of those HG's has failed.

A cheap Fel-Pro HG is just as good as a expensive Fel-Pro

 

[livedsm4g63]

There are only 2 gasket types that are used with stainless steel o rings, composite, and copper. The o ring seals the cylinders. A copper o ring is used with mls gaskets, doesn't really add much. It's not about being cheap, it's about sealing high cylinder pressures with a gasket that doesn't weep coolant/oil. I also tear down a few times a year. If i resurfaced my head and block everytime, as you should with mls, i would be buying new heads and blocks all the time. I personally run 28-30 psi daily on my car, and have had cars i ran 38 psi on daily. I don't really care what you read on the interweb, i know what works from actually using different products, pushed to the max.

its not what i read from the web its what i learned from getting my degrees in this area of work. I know these gaskets will work to a certain amount of boost, but if your planning on pushing that much wouldnt you just put a mls in and the not have to worry about tearing down all the time? Why do you tear down? may i guess headgasket?

 

[black_gst]

There is a couple people on the dsmlink boards that have o ringed blocks and run a felpro $30 HG

if you have dsmlink i can post a link

 

[livedsm4g63]

There is a couple people on the dsmlink boards that have o ringed blocks and run a felpro $30 HG

if you have dsmlink i can post a link

ive had dsmlink for awhile but i got it from a 3rd party. i still need to register it.

 

[donniekak]

its not what i read from the web its what i learned from getting my degrees in this area of work. I know these gaskets will work to a certain amount of boost, but if your planning on pushing that much wouldnt you just put a mls in and the not have to worry about tearing down all the time? Why do you tear down? may i guess headgasket?

Never blown a headgasket, ever. I tear down a lot because i test a lot of head/manifold/cam combinations. I probably could just ask someone with some degrees and save myself some work. But then, i could just enter my projected horsepower, and weight into a calculator. That would take all the work out of it. I could learn all about cars without even having to work on one, awesome.
Seriously, i do what i do and share my EXPERIENCE with others. Years ago, it was projected by people that turbo's larger than a 20g would not work well on a 4g63. People actually bolted on larger turbo's and they worked great. Some people are content with what should work, others actually do research. Although both composites, and copper gaskets are very proven combos with a stainless ringed block. The block i have is from an AMS built engine. It came from them with a composite, AMS, damn cheap basterds.

 

[livedsm4g63]

Never blown a headgasket, ever. I tear down a lot because i test a lot of head/manifold/cam combinations. I probably could just ask someone with some degrees and save myself some work. But then, i could just enter my projected horsepower, and weight into a calculator. That would take all the work out of it. I could learn all about cars without even having to work on one, awesome.
Seriously, i do what i do and share my EXPERIENCE with others. Years ago, it was projected by people that turbo's larger than a 20g would not work well on a 4g63. People actually bolted on larger turbo's and they worked great. Some people are content with what should work, others actually do research. Although both composites, and copper gaskets are very proven combos with a stainless ringed block. The block i have is from an AMS built engine. It came from them with a composite, AMS, damn cheap basterds.

haha nice. either way its nice that your sharing your "experience" with others. But as for me i want to keep my car on the street as much as possible. So i dont want to have to worry about anything. What bad have you heard of mls if you mind me asking? You seem to shy away from it.

 

[99gst_racer]

, i dont even know what to say after that, anyways. Where are these people running 10s on felpro 30+psi? Id like to see how long they lasted. By chance have a link?

I run 40 PSI on a cheap $30 composite gasket. Just because it's not a $200 gasket, doesn't mean it's junk or that it won't perform well. As with any purpose built machine, each component needs to perfectly compliment the next one to provide a solid mechanical balance to gain optimal results. And a composite head gasket (OEM, Felpro, Topline, etc...) combined with an o-ring and the proper head stud is more than capable of delivering good performance and reliability.

I ran 40 PSI all last year, and plan to run a little more this year on the same head gasket. Come to think of it, I've never used any head gasket on any DSM other than a composite gasket, and I've also never had one fail either.

 

[livedsm4g63]

I run 40 PSI on a cheap $30 composite gasket. Just because it's not a $200 gasket, doesn't mean it's junk or that it won't perform well. As with any purpose built machine, each component needs to perfectly compliment the next one to provide a solid mechanical balance to gain optimal results. And a composite head gasket (OEM, Felpro, Topline, etc...) combined with an o-ring and the proper head stud is more than capable of delivering good performance and reliability.

I ran 40 PSI all last year, and plan to run a little more this year on the same head gasket. Come to think of it, I've never used any head gasket on any DSM other than a composite gasket, and I've also never had one fail either.

thats pretty outstanding.

 

[99gst_racer]

To answer the OP's question - the $40 Felpro composite gasket is just fine to use. I used that same gasket on both of my roommate's rebuilds and never had any issues with either. I have yet to find the "point of failure" with any composite gasket, so I'm not able to tell you how far you can push it. But years ago, I was flowing about 48 lbs/min airflow using a composite gasket and stock head bolts, and I never pushed a drop of coolant. With some properly torqued ARP's, a composite head gasket will go a long way.

 

[frankenstein406]

I'll be going with a fel pro, I've never had a problem with any of there gaskets and they always seem to be quality and fair priced.

 

[Grescht]

A cheap Fel-Pro HG is just as good as a expensive Fel-Pro

Thank you for saying that. My machine shop has one on the wall for $65.
Advance has it for $50 and Autozone has it for $45...


ok.. so Autozone obviously has something going on to where they can get Felpro's cheap.... so that means that Autozone has an interest in our motor! cool.... i guess, if you wanna rep the Autozone.

 

[dsm-onster]

Partsdinosaur.com. $18 composite gasket. Side-by-side to an oem composite looks identical. The 'grains' in the composite material, the metal ringing, everything. I've also pushed it to 32psi and 52lb/min with a 60-1 showing a 1.8 70-90mph and 126mph in the 1/4 before; only 12s though. I was in my FWD