Ultimate Head Gasket

CarMichael Angelo

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,
15 Year Member
Nov 29, 1999
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Birmingham, al
OK. Just got off the phone w/ some guy at GE aerospace that recommended I use his epoxy for my latest dilemma.
With the sleeves installed, head gasket sealing now becomes my immediate concern. A copper head gasket was gonna be my go to, but hours on the phone has me changing directions, and deciding NOT to use a copper HG due to potential water leaks at some time or another. O-ringing the block would put said potential O ring on/off the sleeves, so there is also a possible source of compression escaping, and resulting in some sort of failure there as well. Cometic recommended a custom MLS gasket, but could not give me a real good sense of assurance that the 150.00 HG wouldn't fail at 18psi either.
That said, and based on my conversation w/ the rocket scientist at GE today coupled with my concern for what could be a potential series of water leaks has brought me to the decision to forego a head gasket altogether, and.......get this.......... Glue the head on w/ this dudes space shuttle re-entry tile adhesive.
Now I know what you're thinking,...Glue-ing the head on??? Yeah I was skeptical too until I talked with rocket dude for about an hour.
Think about it.
You assemble an engine w/ the ultimate goal of keeping the thing together. Building it w/ "zippers" so it can be opened up later seems like kinda dooming the engine to fail at some time in the future based on the "temporary" solution a bolted on head w/ a gasket in between actually is. If the engine was in effect "solid," and the tune was carefully "snuck" up on, why would anyone ever have to worry about the what if's, and use a bolted on head w/ a head gasket. Once running at peak efficiency, why would you need to worry about being able to remove the 800.00 pistons, and 1ooo.00 camshaftand lifters out of your irreplaceable engine block?

So,...I'm gonna use GE's aerospace solution to actually holding on those heat reflecting tiles that adorn the nose of the space shuttle. Rated for exposures of -460 degrees farenheit ( absolute zero), to well over +2500 F ( re-entry temps) the glue GE aerospace uses has to be able to deal w/ the thermal expansion those tiles go through every trip into space. Also able to tolerate exposure to a butt load of freally scary toxins, corrosives, and liquids,...dude was not concerned about exposures to fuel, and oil. All while being able to hold those things on at escape velocity makes me more than confident that they'll be able to hold my weenie little head on my 200 degree engine.

The guy sent me a link of the stuff actually applied to a piece of .125 thick aluminum where they were able to melt the aluminum around the glue, but the epoxy did not fail. Conversely, they applied the stuff to ordinary aluminum foil and were unable to get the epoxy to separate regardless of the impacts they subjected it to.

The only drawback? The price. At 200.00 an oz. ( I should only need that much), it's just a tad more expensive than your everyday JB weld. so I'm sold,...I ordered 2 ounces today
Here's a link:

http://www: youreallydidntthinkiwasseriousdidyou.com

You'll never get the 5 minutes back it took you to read this.
 
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Cant,..dis-similar metals.
I had a kid in the shop hand me aluminum filler rod when I was Tig welding some stainless v bands onto exhaust. I was confused as to why it wouldn't puddle but I struggled through and welded it. Never mind the weld popped and cracked immediately after cooling. So what were you saying about dissimilar metals again.

Btw feel free to waste my time with this nonsense any time.... Lol
 
Dammit Mike, I was already formulating a why-you-shouldn't-do-it-you-idiot response.

You are a crazy ass mofo.

Well just like most of the stuff I conjure up, alot of it has some truth in it.
The GE aerospace glue?
Real.
Me paying a buttload for the stuff?
True.
Me using it to hold stuff that was exposed to +30psi. of boost while being exposed to straight methanol as it's only source of attachment?
Again true.
Us testing it after it dried trying to make it come off the aluminum plate and foil?
True again.

Me using it to hold a head gasket on.
Pfffftttt!!! Whadaya crazy or somethin?
Behold the madmike double fuel rail 363 held on solely by said glue.
enginecompartment004sf5.jpg
 
Well just like most of the stuff I conjure up, alot of it has some truth in it.
The GE aerospace glue?
Real.
Me paying a buttload for the stuff?
True.
Me using it to hold stuff that was exposed to +30psi. of boost while being exposed to straight methanol as it's only source of attachment?
Again true.
Us testing it after it dried trying to make it come off the aluminum plate and foil?
True again.

Me using it to hold a head gasket on.
Pfffftttt!!! Whadaya crazy or somethin?
Behold the madmike double fuel rail 363 held on solely by said glue.
enginecompartment004sf5.jpg

This does spark an interesting idea though... I wonder if you could use it to patch together an entire one-off intake manifold. You might be able to use an epoxy in ways that you couldn't use a welder, or to join non-metallic components... :chin
 
This does spark an interesting idea though... I wonder if you could use it to patch together an entire one-off intake manifold. You might be able to use an epoxy in ways that you couldn't use a welder, or to join non-metallic components... :chin
you mean like a 3D printed plastic intake? its been done lol
 
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the nitrous car has the head has the reciever groove and the block has the o ring. we used a bit of RTV around the water ports and a half bottle of alumaseal in the water to be safe.
 
What's wrong with the ole cometic (sp) or MLS gasket?
Ohh I don't know..... for a US engine that never made more than 125 hp at the FW? Made even more obscure w/ an Australian head???
This does spark an interesting idea though... I wonder if you could use it to patch together an entire one-off intake manifold. You might be able to use an epoxy in ways that you couldn't use a welder, or to join non-metallic components... :chin

+1. Nothing beat's copper with an O-ring. Just O-ring the head instead of the block, so that you can get it close to the bore.

You are right, I will never get my 5 minutes back.

Kurt

Considering it for real.
 
I have yet to have a need for a Copper head gasket on my Mustang. In 15 years, I've blown one stock head gasket. I did have to do a Copper head gasket on my MR2 because there was a lot more combustion pressure on that little engine. I had an O-ringed head and used KW Coppercoat around all the passages. It never leaked once in over 80,000 miles.

Kurt
 
Ohh I don't know..... for a US engine that never made more than 125 hp at the FW? Made even more obscure w/ an Australian head???

There are a number of places (basically any place that does water jet or laser cutting) that can make you a couple.

It's probably comparable in price to having the head/deck prepped for o-ring.

I don't actually know. I've never had to have one custom made. :shrug:
 
guy i work with found a guy in china who makes custom head gaskets. he used them to make a head gasket for an old john deere tractor
 
Back when we got our MR2 gaskets done, we had them custom cut in Washington State. It was $75/gasket back then. Not sure what it would go for now.

Kurt