What's the difference between copper gaskets and gaskets made out of, well, gasket material? Are the copper ones reusable?

 

can take more abuse (read more boost)
not stock, so can be made for larger bores
they don't compress, like regular gaskets so height won't vary .. or will if you need higher compression
Sure there are other reasons, and they're reusable if they're not bent

 

Thanks red

 

I used to work for a major metal gasket manufacturer.....

I haven't torn apart a 944 head gasket, but I'd guess it has a metal tang covered by graphite. This makes an excellent gasket. A metal clad gasket it for the most extreme temps and pressures and caustic environments.

IMHO copper metal clad gaskets are way over used and over rated. Unless you have a truly extreme application, I would imagine OEM would be just fine.

 

Well, I actually want the gaskets for between the downpipe/test pipe and test pipe/cat back. I'll be swapping the test pipe with the stock cat back and forth a few times, and it would be nice not to need new gaskets every time.

[edit] The crush rings don't work with the test pipe.