Copper Head Gasket Questions

[Richie-Van-GTi 72 2 Cars]

Thinking of going the copper head gasket route on my 205 (restroked xu10j4r) , so I need to know who supplies them and also I was told I would need the head O ringing. Can someone enlighten me further on this please.

Many thanks in advance

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

Your man PeterT knows about them and supplies them. He advised me that 'O' ringing wasn't necessary, BUT that was on an alloy block where the liners (with sufficient protrusion) would bite sufficiently.

 

Several thicknesses are available which you need to take into account with regards to CR and valve clearances.

 

You should also fix it with copper adhesive spray. I have loads left if you're local and want to borrow my tin?

 

Rich

[SweetBadger 94]

Be aware that the surfaces have to be spot on for these to work.

 

I tried one a while back on my ally MI engine which has good liner protrusion and what I thought to be a smooth flat head surface. It lasted all of about 10 minutes before it was blowing on cyl 1 and pressurising the water system .

 

Previousy had done 3 trackdays and about 15000 miles with no problems on a standard gasket, so thought everything would be fine - just goes to show how sensitive they are...

[kyepan 291]

if i remember Drs's one blew quite quickly too, but that may have been down to something else.

[DrSarty 90 1 Cars]

if i remember Drs's one blew quite quickly too, but that may have been down to something else.

 

Well it lasted a good 1,000 miles+ and many a good thrashing. But it was my fault not checking liner protrusion.

[petert 588]

You can buy them direct from www.ridgecrest.com.au. Ask for the 405 gasket and specify what bore size you want. Don't forget to add 0.5mm to your bore size to allow for swelling due to crush. Sizes are 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.4 and 2.0mm from memory. They've gone up in price recently due to the wicked demand for copper.

 

I've had a 0.5mm on my XU10J4 for the past 12 months, without o-ringing, but both head and block surfaces were new.

Edited April 18, 2008 by petert

[Richie-Van-GTi 72 2 Cars]

excellent info, my head was fully stripped and skimmed etc not that long back, since then its ran for less than a few hours in total so the faces should still be mint. I'll get the head of and makesome measurements so I can place an order

[boombang 2]

Is there a need to change the gasket periodically due to reactions between metals?

[Doof 11]

I remember reading in A Graham Bells book that MLS gaskets are the ones to use when you have an ally head and a steel block...

 

Sounds like copper is more trouble than its worth.

[Super Josh 4]

I thought that people only used copper HGs on the Ally lumps because it is expensive and difficult to deck the block and liners to increase the comp. ratio.

Surely on an XU10 is would be easier to just deck the block and then fit the thinnest standard gasket you can find?

 

 

Josh

[Richie-Van-GTi 72 2 Cars]

I thought that people only used copper HGs on the Ally lumps because it is expensive and difficult to deck the block and liners to increase the comp. ratio.

Surely on an XU10 is would be easier to just deck the block and then fit the thinnest standard gasket you can find?

Josh

 

 

in an ideal world yes, problem I have is the engine is restroked and the pistons sit proud of the block and with a stnadrd head gasket (1.4mm) the pistons contact the head at stage 2 of the torquing down sequence. Ive got it running with 2 gaskets which is far from ideal and also loses me some compression. If I fit a 2mm gasket then I should be seeing the CR I aimed for without the conatct issues.

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Speak to Mike Tanski at Ferriday Engineering, contact details on the web, very helpful and interested, supplied us a copper gasket with stainless fire ring for the 16v Mini Turbo.