pettybird

I've looked through a bunch of threads, and each choice seems to come and go with popularity. I have an '89 951 which has 86k miles and runs great. I have a broken exhaust stud (#2 cylinder) and, seeing as the car was used lightly but was a little neglected, I figured I'd take the head off, have it resurfaced and checked, replace all the little WYATIT parts and put in new rod bearings. I want to DE the car next year and I certainly don't want to blow it up.

I'm going to run the stock 26/8 turbo, a full 3" exhaust, a 3BAR map, 951MAX chips, probably an upgraded wastegate, and not much else. I'm shooting for 300-315rwhp, and don't plan on getting crazy...sound familiar?

So, what's the recommendation for a head gasket which is still holding fine, with totally reachable HP goals in mind?

fortysixandtwo

Just get a wide fire gasket. They provide an upgrade over stock and are much more robust, from an installation standpoint, than cometic.

mudbuddha

Stock HG s/b fine for the HP level you are aiming for. A good tune with proper A/F ratio is key.

Darwantae951

I have an extra widefire if you need one. Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

IanM

I don't see the point in using a stock headgasket. Unless the $40 extra is a big deal to you, I would go for the widefire. If your head has been resurfaced multiple times - ie. if you can no longer see the witness mark on the underside of your head, then you may want to go for the 1.4mm thicker headgasket, which is unfortunately not widefire. Paragon products sells all options - Victor Reinz.

I've never run with a cometic headgasket. As long as your fuel and ignition tuning is good (I set by a/f ratios for 11.8:1 under boost), you're not running more than about 16psi+/- boost and you're running higher octane fuel (91 or higher), you shouldn't need to go that route. Even so, that would only be a band-aid to a detonation problem.

alxdgr8

+1 for widefire.
I'd only even think about a cometic if I was completely rebuilding the engine as the surface prep on the block and head is critical.

333pg333

Cometic h/g can be a blessing if you're a long way from home and running a bit extra boost at the track. Spring a leak? Fine, just turn the boost down and drive home. For what you want though a stock or Widefire would be fine.

Chris White

I do not recommend using a Cometic gasket unless you head / block have been surfaced or you can confirm that they are in ‘near new’ condition with a very smooth and flat surface.

beentherebaby

Mixed results with Cometic. OE or wide fire ring are fine.

bw993

For anything non-stock, I would recommend wide-fire.

Willard Bridgham 3

Wide fire ring gaskets are intended for use with o-ringed block/head. The stock gasket has higher clamping force.

I had head/block trued and resurfaced, and the cometic leaked at 15-18 psig. I admit, I had an early gasket.

beentherebaby

The wide fire ring gasket is designed to have better stability from increased clamp pressure area around the cylinder. The narrower fire ring area of the OE gasket may have a higher PSI on the fire ring but both pressure and area are important and both gaskets work just fine.

O-ringing is an after-thought that some folks use as a bandaid for a flexible cylinder/head interface. O-ringing is not required with a wide fire ring gasket and inproper o-ringing of any 944 engine can cause leaks that never existed prior to the o-ringing.

racerxrick

Wide fire gaskets are not intended for o-ringed applications...basically the head gasket incorporates the ring

racerxrick

and you might note that Chris White recommended the wide fire for your application...

good luck!

pettybird

OK so wide fire, no Cometic as I'm not pulling the block. Is O-ringing currently in or out of vogue?

And thanks all for the replies!