eman930

I don't think a wide fire will help much, I believe it's designed to be used with a O-ringed head. Also NA cam is slightly better but you probably won't notice it. Fly cut pistons is a nice idea but if you keep up with basic maintenance then you won't have any issues and can spend the money on something better...... Repair your engine, Get a M-Tune setup, upgrade your exhaust and waste gate and get a MBC... You'll be happy

Chris White

You really need to join the Corvette forum.....

Willard Bridgham 3

Wide fire ring head gaskets will hold less pressure than the stock gasket. When you torque the head, a larger area (wide fire ring) will have less psi resistance because the area of the gasket is higher.

Less gasket psi resistance = less boost psi before failure.

Chris White

If its tuned right and in good working order a piece of wet tissue paper will work as a head gasket. If the tuning and condition is not good - then nothing will keep it together!

Voith

More friction surface @ enough pressure = stronger seal.

Ronin-951

Sorry for any bum info I may have passed on Torrey, I'm not in the Mod Club, but no one was even trying to address your question at that point. Now you've got the big gun's on your problem, so listen carefully.

Chris White

The 82-85 NA cam IS the Turbo cam.
When the turbo was introduced the NA (86-88) got a new cam that is just slightly different than the old ND/new turbo cam.
Not worth the effort to swap the cams.

carlege

Will, I believe they only widened the existing foil ring on the stock HG. They didnt make it thicker just wider so i believe what you have said is false.

Now, If you want to argue that gaskets are suppose to give in a catastrophic event potentially saving a major part of the engine then that might be in the Stock Head gaskets favor since it has a smaller foil ring around the cylinders.

lart951

Trust me he is right, even old danno from guru racing discovered that years ago, WF is useless unless you have the o-ring. in the old days when everybody knew nothing about tuning I blew head gaskets like they were going out of style.

Chris White

WB3 False? that hasn't happened in the past 13 years or 774 posts......

lee101315

I would just go with a Cometic head gasket, since all the newer porsche motors come with a triple layer metal head gasket from the factory today.
They're stronger in a way that allows for absorbing a 'hiccup' caused by a loose hose or bad fuel, but still have enough 'give' to melt during some nasty detonation...

eman930

Any kinda special machining process to fit a full metal gasket? I'd imagine the surfaces need to be perfect

carlege

So if what chris white said is true..... its a moot point whether the gasket is stronger or not.

lee101315

I dont treat 951 heads different than any other engine. If the head isnt true, or it has craters like the surface of the moon around the coolant passages, I send it to a machine shop and have them filled in and machined...organic or metal gasket.

I have heard of some people spraying copper gasket sealer or adding some silicone around the rectangular coolant port as a preventive measure, but Ive done a few without the extra sealant and never had a problem.

Chris White

The only head gasket 'trick' that actually helps is o-ringing the head. This creates a very small foot print pressure point and it also creates the pressure at the cylinders more then the perimeter. that will help when the head and block are not perfectly flat.
The Cometic gasket will actually makes things worse if the head and block are not true. I only use the Cometic gasket on a freshly machined head.
All most all 25+ year old heads/blocks have quite a bit of corrosion on the head gasket surfaces. Every now and then I get to open up and original engine and the head gasket is usually corroded and full of holes where it is exposed to the coolant.

But back to the truth - head gaskets fail for two main reasons - bad tuning or warped head.
Bad tuning will cause detonation and that causes very high pressure spikes that will lift the head and breach the gasket. In addition the cylinders will move a little causing fretting corrosion and eat away at the gasket.
Warped head (usually from overheating) causes uneven clamping loads.

so - just be nice to your engine and your head gasket will be nice to you!