What head gasket would be best for me???

[Kmiller86]

I have resently been pushing coolant somewhere. Today I finaly saw a drip under the car. I jacked it up and took a look and it was leaking down the side of the block on the drivers side of the car. It is for sure coming from the HG. I did not do a compression test yet but on the boost leak test it now leaks and it builds pressure in the coolant system when I do it. I would like opinions on what head gasket to get. Im not sure what is on there currently because I did not instal it. But I do have ARP studs. I am currently running 26 psi daily driven and boosted quite a bit. After this winter I am going to have water injection and plan on running about 30 on pump so I need something that can hold up. What would you recomend?

P.S. I would rather not get the block resurfaced but I would get the head decked.

 

[RiceKiller_TSi]

You blew a four layer metal headgasket?

 

[Staytuned]

Deck the head and throw on a Mitsu metal headgasket or try the Cometic one. I have ARP's and the Mitsu head gasket myself.....no problems yet.

 

[Kmiller86]

I dont know what was on there, I dont believe it is a 4 layer.
I also have a few more questions. First: It only leaks under high boost, is it ok to still drive as long as I stay out of boost. BTW it has never overheated. Second: Does the head always need to be decked. I will have it taken to a shop and if it is not good I will get it done, but if it is fine should I still do it?

Thanks for all the help thus far

 

[Staytuned]

No need to deck it if it is fine. I didn't have mine decked and holds 25 psi quite nice.

I would say you're alright to drive it normally as long as it doesn't overheat or push too much coolant out of the over flow bottle.

 

[Kmiller86]

Good that means I can still drive it till this weekend when I get the new head gasket. I dont know what I was doing driving a DSM as a daily driven car. . But I'm still not going to stop. I think I will try the Cometic High Pressure 4 layer metal headgasket that slowboy racing sells.

Again thanks for the input.

 

[CarTunr22]

Um i was under the impresion Cometic was great with ARP's and having the head and block resurfaced. If you are not doing all of those things you might want to stick with the stock mitsu HG.

Good luck!

 

[Kmiller86]

I have heard many different stories. Some people have had it resurfaced with now problems and other have had problems. Some people dont do anything and dont have problems while others do. Once I get my head off and see what it looks like I will then decide if it needs to be resurfaced or not.

 

[GVR4592]

If you are using a metal headgasket of any kind you need to make sure that the block and head surface are flat and very very smooth. Most metal head gasket manufacturers reccomend a finish of 50 RA or better on head and block surfaces. So if you are planning on removing the head it would be a good idea to take it to a reputable maching shop and have them check the head and resurface it if neccesary. Make sure they know that the surface needs to be 50 RA or better. If they don't know what RA is, find another machine shop.

 

[zachdeagle16]

Make sure to check head for cracks! I replaced my head gasket three times and kept getting coolant out of my exhaust everytime i would boost, and backpresure in the coolant system turned out i had a cracked head

 

[playitlouddsm]

I just recently put my motor together and right now have about 1000m on it and i just had my head resurfaced with a mitsu metal 4 layer on it. Haven't had any problems with it yet. Just my .02

 

[talont3t4]

You were running 26Psi with no water injection on a daily driven car? I would say thats your problem not the type of head gasket.

 

[GVR4592]

I've run 26-27 psi daily driven with stock head gasket and bolts AND NO WATER INJECTION, and had no problems. Water injection isn't a miracle tuning method, you can run higher boost levels than 26 psi on pump gas without water injection.

 

[talont3t4]

Well I've seen many guys run 30Psi on stock gasket and race gas no problem and your only running 26Psi and having problems so I think tunning has something to do with it.

 

[Kmiller86]

I have dsmlink and everything looks good. 0 knock 1-4th gear and its at 10.8-1afr from my wbo2 so i dont think it is the tuning

 

[diambo4life]

I have dsmlink and everything looks good. 0 knock 1-4th gear and its at 10.8-1afr from my wbo2 so i dont think it is the tuning

Have you inspected your plugs? What octane do you run again? People have blown their cars reading "0" knock. Beware.

I think your head is lifting off under boost too. I would throw in a stock HG just in case.