HYPERMAX HEAD GASKETS

[tknomaj]

if everone used a 3rd party and contributed towards the 3400$ as a communal effort, and even 12 people came in then its 284$ plus the head gaskets. alot more tolerable and realistic.

That was My idea about this. Custom head gaskets . Hypermax wanted 1000.00 for their Custom gaskets and You still had to have block machined to use them. All the talk about building high horsepower IDI's . I am just trying to get the best possible so I only have to do this once. Like Icanfixall I have no intention of being broken down on the side of the road or in a small town and paying some one else to pull my engine and repair it. I have been here for two years and have read the Horror Stories about being in need of repair and having other people and unknown shops repairing members trucks. Once head studs are installed pulling heads in frame is not much of an option. That leaves us with pulling AC unit or pulling engine not the choice I was looking for . The engine currently in my truck is Toast . I am building Max way earlier than was planned if we do this I would use the Cometec Gaskets other wise it will be factory IH gaskets. How many times have we read and or said that we wish their was a better option. Here is our chance

 

[rhkcommander]

studs and these gaskets, we could probably push out some great numbers.. I'm game. Even if only a few of us get into it, still cheaper than the Hypermax was. Imagine the boost we could toss in with a nice big turbo, lowered compression, etc and I'm sure we'd be long past the limits on the pump and possibly what most people hit power-wise

So 2 so far... any one else in?

 

[OLDBULL8]

It's difficult to fathom anyone paying that much for head gaskets, unless they are building a ~600 HP engine. An engine of that HP is only good for raceing, pulling or drag strip, but then again there is the bragging rights, but what the heck ya got the money do it. Even so those engines are only good for a few romps, then tore down and rebuilt before they are completely blown up. Victor-Reinze or Fel-Pro is good enough for me.

Whoa gee haw, just remembered.

Someone is full of bullchit at Cometic. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/COME...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

I thought I'd seen them on ebay before, fact is I was going to buy a set from the same guy a few days ago, he had 15 sets for much less, but was sold out when I went to buy. Just saved you $3400 bucs.

 

[rhkcommander]

powerstroke gaskets the cometic site only lists the 7.3 strokes head gaskets too

wonder if these are any good, the ring here doesnt need machining http://www.cometic.com/phuzion.aspx

 

[tknomaj]

those were the one I was refering to and No Special Machining Required even the stock specs for flatness and surface finish is within stock specs

As to what I or others pay for head gaskets some want to make Max Hp Some want Max relaiblity. I personaly want the Latter. Just thik of it as A Insurance Policy

 

[rhkcommander]

I dont need crazy hp but it would be nice to see an idi get over 200 rwhp, and more torque other than legends , and be reliable. Everyone says the bottom end is built tough, how high of a PSI has someone reliably ran without blowing a hg with studs?

 

[tknomaj]

I dont need crazy hp but , how high of a PSI has someone reliably ran without blowing a hg with studs?

Kind of Like the old comercial when I was a Kid "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a TOOTSIE POP?" But pushing 20lbs and not sweating would be NICE

 

[tknomaj]

Or we could ask Barney he should know at what point lift off occurs. and learn from there

 

[oldmisterbill]

Question -we all think of the bottom end being tough. Has anyone ever seen loose wristpins? I had engine problems away from home 1700 miles.100,000 mile supposidly rebuilt engine (I had it rebuilt and put around 100,000 on it). When it was torn down we noticed wristpin play.Comments anyone,I have always wondered if under high #s the wristpin might become a weak link?

 

[RLDSL]

Question -we all think of the bottom end being tough. Has anyone ever seen loose wristpins? I had engine problems away from home 1700 miles.100,000 mile supposidly rebuilt engine (I had it rebuilt and put around 100,000 on it). When it was torn down we noticed wristpin play.Comments anyone,I have always wondered if under high #s the wristpin might become a weak link?

Now hush Bill... don't go rainin' on folks parade with reality when they're bench racing

You are probably correct in that assumption though. I remember back when building a lot of high performance gassers, the pistons generally came with much stouter wristpins than stock. Unfortunately, only one way to find out and that when these young guys with deep pockets who don't mind constantly yanking engines, to do this stuff and run them to the limits to find out what the limits are. They'll have a lot of fun doing it
After the new gaskets find their limits with the other parts, the discussion will move to getting custom rods and wristpins made, custom forged cranks.... then roller rockers, stouter pushrods (springs are easy enough to match up) it will go on and on. The search for HP is generally never ending once it starts.

 

[RLDSL]

That was My idea about this. Custom head gaskets . Hypermax wanted 1000.00 for their Custom gaskets and You still had to have block machined to use them. All the talk about building high horsepower IDI's . I am just trying to get the best possible so I only have to do this once. Like Icanfixall I have no intention of being broken down on the side of the road or in a small town and paying some one else to pull my engine and repair it. I have been here for two years and have read the Horror Stories about being in need of repair and having other people and unknown shops repairing members trucks. Once head studs are installed pulling heads in frame is not much of an option. That leaves us with pulling AC unit or pulling engine not the choice I was looking for . The engine currently in my truck is Toast . I am building Max way earlier than was planned if we do this I would use the Cometec Gaskets other wise it will be factory IH gaskets. How many times have we read and or said that we wish their was a better option. Here is our chance

If you're not trying for insane HP and just want reliability , then factory IH ( or Victor Reinz, one and the same, VR makes the factory gaskets ) Head gaskets will do you just fine. Heck I just got through dragging my 5er close to 7000 straight miles grossing over 18k the whole time on factory head bolts and VR gaskets, and running high temps on the way back due to a failed fan clutch. if that's not torture, I don't know what is. Engine is still nice and tight

Folks are forgetting the extra expense of block and head machining when considering the Cometic MLS gaskets. They require a max surface roughness of 50 RA , preferably smoother than that. and perfectly flat surfaces. Most machine shops are not capable of producing the finishes required by MLS gaskets. some of these guys living in the middle of Deer Squirt nowhere USA wanting to jump on the cometic train might end up hauling their engine 7-900miles round trip twice just to get machining done properly.

Not trying to rain on anyones parade, but I've worked with MLS gaskets for years. They are factory gaskets for some European diesels and I've been down that road . It's not easy to find shops that can properly prepare an engine for the things, even when the engine is designed for them in the first place. Some shops that claim to be able to, will end up destroying or near destroying the engines as far as use with MLS gaskets are concerned when they get their hands on the things, some will ruin them completely.. After monkeying with shops for a while, I got lucky and found I have a major national production diesel shop within 100 miles round trip ( 200 miles to get machining done in other words ) that is more than capable of providing the needed surface. Most folks are not going to be that lucky.

 

[BlueBreadTruck]

I run Fel-pro MLS gaskets on my turbo mustang. I was blowing regular ones about once a month...these have lasted years! They use metal and viton rubber to seal, I was told my a drag racer that he lifted his heads on one run, and they resealed! I wonder if they make any for the IDI, or would?


http://www.jegs.com/p/Fel-Pro/Fel-Pro-PermaTorque-Multi-Layer-Steel-Head-Gaskets/758649/10002/-1

 

[brdmh44]

FWIW, as a automotive machinist by trade, FEL-PRO MLS gaskets came out before the Cometic versions did and have always been of higher quality. Back around 2004 when the LS chevy engines were getting pushed to their limits, I assembled a 408 LS6 with a twin turbo setup. The engine was assembled using the Cometic gaskets and ARP head studs, with only 8 PSI on the engine dyno, it was ******* water out around the heads! After numerous calls to Cometic and swapping the sets a few times all I got was a call from one of their big wigs to tell me to try the Fel-Pro MLS gaskets! After switching gaskets, problem solved. --- This tells me a few things, 1. the gaskets were rushed to the market without ample testing, 2. perhaps there were some inherent design flaws, and 3. the fact they were NOT wanting pictures or videos of the gaskets failing leads me to believe they just didn't care.

And like what was mentioned above, you always always always have to set your mill for proper cutter speed, feed rate, and carbides to provide an ultra-fine RA otherwise the gaskets will never seal properly. I do believe that Cometic makes great gaskets, I use them on my snowmobiles and some SBF builds for myself. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that perhaps we can try some other companies and see what they have to say.


I do believe 3400+ is a rather large investment and quite frankly I'd personally receiver groove the heads and block on a performance build with a copper O-Ring for sealing purposes and run a regular head gasket. A few good friend of mine have common rail cummins and duramax's pushing well over 700hp with compound turbos making ungodly high cylinder pressure and they have O-ringed their heads and blocks and have yet to see a failure.

While a good head gasket is cheap insurance, additional machine work and receiver grooving will always be the best bet.

Right now I have a 7.3 apart to be rebuilt and live about 20 minutes away from Hypermax, if they need a motor to set something up I'd be more than willing to help.

 

[icanfixall]

These idi heads and blocks can't easily be o-ringed because of the percup half way in and out of the cylinder fire ring area. Its not just a simple perfect circle cut in the block or heads. It will require a program on a CNC mill... Not going to be cheap either..... One error and you ruin something.... Measure twice... Cut once dad always said..... Saves material in the long run.... I feel the Cometic gaskets are the way to go but.... You know there is always going to be a but.... I'm not feeling good about the $3400.00 extorsion issue. If 34 of us all gave $100.00 then I'm all in. I may even go as much as $500.00 but thats just me helping others too. Then buying a gasket from Cometic wont be an issue. I do have this to say about the thickness.... Felpro gaskets are around 76 thousands thick now... So going as thick as 80 for Cometic isn't doing much for us about dropping compression. Around 110 thous might be more in line here for dropping compression easily with just a gasket change.... I have two felpro head gasket top end kits here. They were a very good ebay buy that I couldn't pass up... My favorite kind of deals. I need to get a 6.9 head gasket and see what the cooling passages differances are. Maybe some work can be done to run out 7.3 motors a bit cooler.....

 

[BlueBreadTruck]

I would have to say, that this site would really be the only place where enough people would come togther and put down money for an IDI gasket. If we dont do it, then we may never get decent head gaskets. However I feel we must exhaust all other possibilities before we throw down that kind of money