Better Headgaskets for IDI's

[ameristar1]

Is there a better headgasket solution for the IDI's? Modern MLS style, something with firerings (have to groove the block and/or heads). I saw the Cometic gaskets with the Phuzion rings, but I think they are custom order. There's gotta be a better way.

 

[icanfixall]

I never have found a better gasket than the Felpro sets. Thats all they do at Felpro. Some really like the oem head gaskets. I had an oem last for the entire life on my original 7.3 with 275 or 375 thousands miles on it. That was with 200,000 miles of heavy towing and fast miles. Ask around what others like... The o-ringing of our heads wont work. The precups are in half of the combustion chamber area. Cometic can make some mls head gaskets but they need plenty of orders. The Felpro head gaskets do have a steel layer in them. Its just not a multi layer gasket.... My feeling they are fine with a set of studs....

 

[RLDSL]

It would be real nice if someone would make MLS gaskets, but good luck getting most shops in BFE to get mating surfaces smooth enough to get the things to seal. Those gaskets require a near mirror finish on the block and heads.
Best head sealing soloution for diesels is the Victor Reinz gaskets and spray a few coats of spray hylomar on each side before installing. Victor Reinz is on the cutting edge of high tech diesel head gasket designing , they make all the gaskets for all those fancy European diesels, including the ones that have won Le MAns , The factory engines come with the gaskets pre coated with Hylomar now, but that is is trick that they learned from us European diesel mechanics who were coating the things with the stuff for years on rebuilds.It makes for a leak free engine that will go for hundreads of thousands of miles without a fuss.

There are a lot of guys that even re use old MLS head gaskets on the Euro diesels by shooting them down with Hylomar and have never had a failure, and these engines run much higher pressures than our IDIs do

 

[ameristar1]

It would be real nice if someone would make MLS gaskets, but good luck getting most shops in BFE to get mating surfaces smooth enough to get the things to seal. Those gaskets require a near mirror finish on the block and heads.
Best head sealing soloution for diesels is the Victor Reinz gaskets and spray a few coats of spray hylomar on each side before installing. Victor Reinz is on the cutting edge of high tech diesel head gasket designing , they make all the gaskets for all those fancy European diesels, including the ones that have won Le MAns , The factory engines come with the gaskets pre coated with Hylomar now, but that is is trick that they learned from us European diesel mechanics who were coating the things with the stuff for years on rebuilds.It makes for a leak free engine that will go for hundreads of thousands of miles without a fuss.

There are a lot of guys that even re use old MLS head gaskets on the Euro diesels by shooting them down with Hylomar and have never had a failure, and these engines run much higher pressures than our IDIs do

I talked to Cometic and they said that they can do the MLS for 183.00 a piece (ouch). Thanx for the reference on Victor Reinz. On the install front, is it good to torque the gaskets to yield (new bolts/studs) or just add a few more lbs/ft to the standard torque spec?

 

[RLDSL]

I talked to Cometic and they said that they can do the MLS for 183.00 a piece (ouch). Thanx for the reference on Victor Reinz. On the install front, is it good to torque the gaskets to yield (new bolts/studs) or just add a few more lbs/ft to the standard torque spec?

Just make sure that you run a bottoming tap in all the bolt holes to clean them outand torque the bolts to spec. I always use new bolts after having a couple of used ones try to pull through( strip) one time even though the book says they are reusable .

If Cometic would do MLS gaskets for $183 each, that is a steal, Is that for one set or is there a minimum run at that price? I'm used to paying close to $300 each and worse for dealer MLS head gaskets for those fancy Euro diesel engines. They generally use TTY bolts with those, but they usually had them on the original gaskets befoire they switched as well. If going with MLS gaskets on an IDI, I think investing in some ARP studs would be in order and you would have to find out from Cometic what their tolerance is for surface roughness and have your heads and block machined accordingly Those things do not give much and they will not seal against surface roughness or pitting or milling grooves.

 

[ameristar1]

Just make sure that you run a bottoming tap in all the bolt holes to clean them outand torque the bolts to spec. I always use new bolts after having a couple of used ones try to pull through( strip) one time even though the book says they are reusable .

If Cometic would do MLS gaskets for $183 each, that is a steal, Is that for one set or is there a minimum run at that price? I'm used to paying close to $300 each and worse for dealer MLS head gaskets for those fancy Euro diesel engines. They generally use TTY bolts with those, but they usually had them on the original gaskets befoire they switched as well. If going with MLS gaskets on an IDI, I think investing in some ARP studs would be in order and you would have to find out from Cometic what their tolerance is for surface roughness and have your heads and block machined accordingly Those things do not give much and they will not seal against surface roughness or pitting or milling grooves.

The price is per gasket as a custom order with no minimum order amount. To do this, they are going to need an IDI gasket to go by because it's something that they don't have on the books, even though they have a 7.3 PSD application available.

 

[WrickM]

That's a really good price. That's basically the same as the retail price the company i used to work for/with sells v6 gm3800 cometic mls gaskets.

 

[icanfixall]

Well this is better news than they gave me 2 years ago... I"m thinking maybe several of us should order a set. Show them that there is demand for them. I also think the price would go down after they have this in there library. No need to "design the program again....

 

[FordGuy100]

Well I'm due for head gaskets...but the price is pretty high.......

Where does one get this Spray Hylymor stuff RSDSL?

 

[RLDSL]

Well I'm due for head gaskets...but the price is pretty high.......

Where does one get this Spray Hylymor stuff RSDSL?

BSR racing has a good price on it and they ship it out fast
They carry Hylomar in tubes as well for other sealing needs. You cannot buy a bettter gasket sealant, this stuff is the factory sealant on Rolls Royce jet Aircraft engines Eve during temporary deformations of the metal that cause gaps during warm ups, this stuff stretches and forms a curtain and maintains the seal and sets back into place . instead of rupturing like everything else.

 

[Devilish]

I've been using permatex aviation sealer on all head gaskets for 18 years without any problems. Don't know how easy the heads come off afterwards though.

 

[RLDSL]

I've been using permatex aviation sealer on all head gaskets for 18 years without any problems. Don't know how easy the heads come off afterwards though.

With that permatex stuff, I bet it takes a really big mallet and a crow bar , but I bet those suckers don't leak That stuff can set up pretty good over time.

The neat thing about Hylomar is it remains a sticky gooey mess forever unless it gets too much air exposure. When you take it apart, clean up is a breeze. A lot of times I re use rubber valve cover gaskets with hylomar on them, just wipe the old stuff off with some solvent, put some fresh on and torque them back down. It's great for a lot of that rare stuff that;s hard to get.

 

[Agnem]

One trick I've been told about is to rub the head gasket down with india ink. Never tried it, but old school guys swear by it.

 

[Devilish]

With that permatex stuff, I bet it takes a really big mallet and a crow bar , but I bet those suckers don't leak That stuff can set up pretty good over time.

Well, I wanna make sure things don't leak. I don't gob it on though, I brush it on sparingly so it doesn't run inside the cylinders and also not all the way to the edge.

 

[typ4]

The new head gaskets come coated with something. I have used aluminum paint for years on gasser head gaskets.
I used Corteco gaskets on my last 2 assemblies, no problems and it has seen almost 250* and 13 lbs boost more than I care to admit.

All new composition head gaskets have a crush ring at the fire ring that acts like the "o-ring" that is done. My parts supplier buddy always fills me in on the latest info when he goes to the training seminars.
If you torque to spec with studs the fine threads create more clamping force than the course so I feel there is no need to raise the value