J4RS head skim + gasket thickness

[Spesh 31 1 Cars]

My head is currently in the machine shop after a head gasket failure, it didn't look in bad shape but it had just marked the head between the bore and a water jacket so its going to need a skim of some sort.  The head was unskimmed (measured 137mm and the 2 bits of rough casting were still there).

 

My question is at what point does a thicker head gasket become neccasary?  The engine is standard in all aspects.

 

Should I need to go down the thicker gasket route is there a way that avoids the composite gasket from pug?

 

Thanks

[welshpug 1,657]

by the tech data any time you skim you should use a repair gasket.  nothing wrong with a fibre gasket really, thats what every alloy xu uses.

[SweetBadger 94]

If you want an MLS gasket then Cometic do various thickness, and will also do a custom thickness on special order.

 

around £100 for the gasket from memory.