Forced induction headgaskets

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I'll be doing my H/C/I and s-trim install within the next 2 weeks. I am trying to round up all the gaskets and whatnot for the swap. I'll be using felpro gaskets for the upper and lower intake and timing chain front cover. As for the headgaskets, I hear cometic headgaskets pretty often. Where can I go about getting these and ballpark what do they go for? Any other tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advanced.

Nick

 

[Daggar]

Cometic gaskets are not on the menu unless you're willing to have the additional machine work done to prepare the surfaces for them.

Regular ole' Felbpro head gaskets will work just fine and will save your bacon from the prospect of the tune being less than perfect.

 

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Awesome, thanks Dagger for the info. Any ol' felpros will do or do they have "better" ones for s/c applications?

Nick

 

[Rick 91GT]

Fel-Pro 1011-1's is what I would suggest.

As far as the crankcase question you asked me what do you want to know?

 

[luckythirteen13]

Fel-Pro 1011-1
they are a little thicker and have steel ring instead of copper

 

[blackcloud50]

I run Fel-Pro 9333pt without any issues

 

[kn7671]

Fel-Pro 1011-1
they are a little thicker and have steel ring instead of copper

But if you have Aluminum cylinder heads you should NOT use the Fel-Pro 1011-1 head gasket with the pre-flattened steel ring, you have to use the 1011-2 copper ring gasket. This is Fel-Pro's recommendation.

The use of head studs will give you better head gasket sealing if you don't really want to worry about the brand of gasket you choose, plus with forced-induction or nitrous, head studs should almost be mandatory on the Ford 302 engine.

 

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I was hoping to use the arp head studs for the heads to be on the safe side. So I can use the one set of gaskets (copper) and not the other as per felpro? thanks

Nick

 

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Fel-Pro 1011-1's is what I would suggest.

As far as the crankcase question you asked me what do you want to know?

I guess what are your recommendations for the pcv valve system. I had been researching a bit and a few people said to use a 88 turbo coupe pcv valve, an oil separator in line of the pcv then back to the upper intake. As for the pass valve cover I was told to cap off the fitting on the filler neck, cap off the fitting on the t-body and run a breather on the filler neck with a one way check valve so I don't have vaccuum problems. Does this sound good?

Thanks

Nick

 

[Rick 91GT]

You want to use the 1011-1's with the forced induction the copper fire ring is not strong enough. The preflattened steel ring will hold up better to the boost and will not tear up the newer robust alum cylinder heads. I build motors for a living and have been using the 1011-1's for years with out any issues...

Here's something I saved from a thread earlier..straight from Fel-Pro, I believe Mike Yount was the one that called about it.

From Matt at the Fel Pro tech line this morning (12/19)

The 1011-2 (copper flat wire - .039" compressed thickness) should be used with E7TE factory heads 1982+ (he might have said 83+). The head casting is not as robust as the earlier small block heads, and as a result it can have the tendancy to actually 'bend' the head around the steel wire in the gasket as opposed to compressing it equally. That can (not always) cause head gasket sealing problems (usually coolant, not cylinder) or sealing problems on the header or intake side because of the distortion. He said that their research shows that the aftermarket aluminum heads -- AFR's, TFS, Edelbrock's, FRPP's, etc. as well as earlier factory cast iron heads are stout enough that they don't have that problem. Either gasket 1011-1 (steel wire, .041" thick) or the 1011-2 (copper wire, .039" thick) can be used with those heads but they recommend the 1011-1 with steel wire. I didn't think to ask about GT40 irons or GT40P's (also iron).

Who'd've thunk it?

As far as your PVC system that seems fine....the oil seperator will help with oil contamination and build up on the pistons.

 

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Nice Nice,
thanks for that write up Rick. I'll go ahead and get those gaskets for my swap. I'll definately take your advice any day of the week. Thanks again for helpin out-oh and we will definately be in touch this summer for a 331 dart if you get the time....

Nick

 

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One last question Rick

Is there any machining neccessary on the twisted wedges for these head gaskets?

Nick

 

[just4bob50]

Rick reccomended the same gaskets and ARP heads studs for my set up also. Im hoping to be running around 12lbs of boost with the race rebuild from 928 MotorSports on my powerdyne. I was getting 10lbs. with a 2.93 pulley and now I have a 2.75 pulley going on. The tuner at Pro-Tune is going to cut me a break on tuning with the boost cooler on as he hasn't tuned a car with one on before. If every thing holds up were going to keep adding boost.

 

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Nice nice, I'm in the same boat, cept for the rebuild. I'm just doin the top end for now to see how much I can get before it goes caboom. Good luck man, wish me luck too

Nick

 

[just4bob50]

Im just doing the top end also. My block has about 110,000 on it. I figured if i got 332hp and 363tq with about 8.5lbs of boost on the dyno with a tune that was way rich I can hardly wait to see what more boost and the boost cooler will get me. The tuner thinks we can get close to 400 if everything holds. If not Im going to the bank and then to RNH performance.

 

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Good deal man. I'm lookin to get as close to the 500rwhp mark as possible. Track heat upper and lower, steeda #19 cam, twisted wedges, and 12 lbs of boost. We shall see, if not I'll be callin Rick too...

Nick

 

[aleborjas]

Cometic gaskets are not on the menu unless you're willing to have the additional machine work done to prepare the surfaces for them.

Regular ole' Felbpro head gaskets will work just fine and will save your bacon from the prospect of the tune being less than perfect.

what do i have to do to the surface because i already have the cometic gaskets and they are going to a 347 with 185's and 15 pounds of boost what do i have to do the heads are brand new..

 

[Blk91stang]

what do i have to do to the surface because i already have the cometic gaskets and they are going to a 347 with 185's and 15 pounds of boost what do i have to do the heads are brand new..

I took this from a website.

"The smoother the block and head surface the better, Cometic recommends a 50RA or finer surface finish(try to find a machine shop with stone surface grinding machines). They are installed dry with no sealers."

This is because the metal gaskets need a extremely smooth surface to seal or they will leak past any grooves.

 

[bluevenom867]

We run the Cometics no problems.Excellant gaskets.

My uncle is now a distributor for SCE gaskets.I was looking at their SCE Titan self sealing gaskets (copper,with stainless steel fire ring),they look good also.They have some thing with the fire ring that wedges into the gasket as cylinder pressure builds,there by making the seal better with more pressure.

They have run this gasket on there car with 40lbs of boost,and so far have lifter the head enough to get coolant to leak out but no cylinder pressure (the ARP studs stretghed <- I know spelling )

 

[Rick 91GT]

One last question Rick

Is there any machining neccessary on the twisted wedges for these head gaskets?

Nick

No special machining for the 1011-1's

I took this from a website.

"The smoother the block and head surface the better, Cometic recommends a 50RA or finer surface finish(try to find a machine shop with stone surface grinding machines). They are installed dry with no sealers."

This is because the metal gaskets need a extremely smooth surface to seal or they will leak past any grooves.

Yes that is true for the Cometics, I have also been spraying them even on the first use with the Chrysler MLS gasket spray, it tends to take care of any first use seepage that tends to be common with a MLS.

We run the Cometics no problems.Excellant gaskets.

My uncle is now a distributor for SCE gaskets.I was looking at their SCE Titan self sealing gaskets (copper,with stainless steel fire ring),they look good also.They have some thing with the fire ring that wedges into the gasket as cylinder pressure builds,there by making the seal better with more pressure.

They have run this gasket on there car with 40lbs of boost,and so far have lifter the head enough to get coolant to leak out but no cylinder pressure (the ARP studs stretghed <- I know spelling )

Ooops...

I haven't used those yet, ever since the MLS gasket came out they have been the hot ticket unless you are using a o-ring and a soft gasket. Let me know how they work out if you try them. I know some others had a seal sealing coated gasket that had some success.