Head gasket Differences

[Jack_440 Savoy]

I have what I call a Mystery engine. It's a rebuilt 440 that was built with what I call Odds and Ends. 78 block, 906 heads etc. It runs Really Good, But, I have been curious about it's pistons for awhile now. I just put it in the car recently but My curiousity is getting to me. I am thinking about pulling One of the heads off just to have a Look. It wouldn't be a big deal because the Intake is off right now. The thing that is Bothering me is possibly ending up with mismatched head gaskets as far as thickness goes. Would this be a Problem Or should I leave well enough Alone ???

[valiant64]

If you think that the head gaskets are really of different thicknesses, I would definetly change them. If they were, you would have different compression from one side to the next. Have you done a compression test on this engine yet?

[Jack_440 Savoy]

No, No, the gaskets are not different. I was wondering about " IF " I pulled "One head " and I got a Different head gasket that was a " Different Thickness " than the other one. Would it make a Difference. I guess I could just measure the compressed thickness and go from there.

[namvet67a1f]

what is your curiousity about the pistons?

[DartGT66]

If your engien isn't blueprinted, I would not worry about the gasket thickness much. In practice there is two thicknesses, the composite gaskets are around .040" and the steel shim gaskets are about .020". Just get the styke you have there now, and your engine should perform just hte same it did before the head removal.

[Jack_440 Savoy]

I went to the parts store today and checked the head gaskets they had available. They had one at another store that was $25 but unknown thickness. The FelPro High performance catalog showed basically two thickness .054 or something and .039 that was a composite. Price was up to $50 ea. for those. I think my Curiosity will have to wait until I have a Good reason to tear it down. Thanks for the Advise !!! Jack

[DartGT66]

If you have a composite gasket there now, regular cheap Fel Pro 8519PT gasket should handle almost everything in a BB. We have used them in our engines, up to 12.2:1 CR on pump gas and up to 781 hp without any head gasket problems.