jedimaster
Well-known member
As the above suggests, ROL gaskets for rebuild good or bad any experiences?
ROL gaskets, yae or nae?
- Thread starter jedimaster
- Start date
Dr.Jass
Pastor of Muppets
I've used some of their stuff, and I have a set of SB head gaskets sitting here I've never installed. They look like a decent gasket--didn't forget to put a fire ring on, or anything stupid like that, but other than water-pump and intake gaskets, I've only used them as wall decoration.
One thing I always keep in mind when rebuilding an engine--most importantly if I haven't installed aftermarket pistons--is the original design of the head gasket. If you have a 1977 7.8:1-compression 440HP, and replace the factory .020" steel-shim gaskets with a .042" composite gasket, you just dropped a couple of tenths in compression... [smilie=e: Not a lot of performance to be found (without forced induction) in the 7.5:1 neighborhood.
Making sure you know what type of gasket your piston is compression-rated at is crucial, even with aftermarket pistons. If it's rated for a steel shim, but you want to run a composite or even copper gasket, you can at least plan for it by having some extra material removed from the heads. I'll be running an MP thin-steel gasket on my 318, which originally used a thicker composite-style gasket. This will get me approximately two tenths extra compression... a big help to my 1985 cop-car shortblock (originally 8.4:1).
Similarly, I'm a big fan of CCing cylinder heads, since they can vary wildly between castings of even the same batch--factory iron is [i]notorious[/i] for this. I've seen small-block 915J heads with 70cc chambers on one head, and 73? on the other... and big-blocks are no better. Aftermarket heads are far better, though, usually having the benefit of CNC machining. While burette setups used to cost hundreds of bones from medical/scientific supply houses, they can be had dirt-cheap on eBay nowadays. I paid less than $70 to my door for a 100ml (cc) unit with a stand and clamp... so there's really no reason not to know.
One thing I always keep in mind when rebuilding an engine--most importantly if I haven't installed aftermarket pistons--is the original design of the head gasket. If you have a 1977 7.8:1-compression 440HP, and replace the factory .020" steel-shim gaskets with a .042" composite gasket, you just dropped a couple of tenths in compression... [smilie=e: Not a lot of performance to be found (without forced induction) in the 7.5:1 neighborhood.
Making sure you know what type of gasket your piston is compression-rated at is crucial, even with aftermarket pistons. If it's rated for a steel shim, but you want to run a composite or even copper gasket, you can at least plan for it by having some extra material removed from the heads. I'll be running an MP thin-steel gasket on my 318, which originally used a thicker composite-style gasket. This will get me approximately two tenths extra compression... a big help to my 1985 cop-car shortblock (originally 8.4:1).
Similarly, I'm a big fan of CCing cylinder heads, since they can vary wildly between castings of even the same batch--factory iron is [i]notorious[/i] for this. I've seen small-block 915J heads with 70cc chambers on one head, and 73? on the other... and big-blocks are no better. Aftermarket heads are far better, though, usually having the benefit of CNC machining. While burette setups used to cost hundreds of bones from medical/scientific supply houses, they can be had dirt-cheap on eBay nowadays. I paid less than $70 to my door for a 100ml (cc) unit with a stand and clamp... so there's really no reason not to know.
jedimaster
Well-known member
Would there head gaskets be the right thickness and or type for my 400 build Jass?
P
Plum Crazy
Guest
I had their head gaskets on first when my valves went into the pistons and had to pull her back apart. The gasket material stuck pretty good to the head and block and took some scraping. I went with Felpro the next round.
I'm not used to pulling them apart so soon but ......... :squirrel:
I'm not used to pulling them apart so soon but ......... :squirrel: