Well, I've noticed that someone is looking for an update on my head gasket project on my Series I vintage racer. I ended up having the folks at Gasketworks out in California make me a solid copper gasket with stainless steel compression rings around the cylinder holes. I also had them NOT stamp the banana-shaped holes in the gasket for the two water passages per cylinder in the block, but instead had them just stamp the holes to fit the water passages themselves. This way there is more gasket material in the area between those passages, which is where the head gaskets seem to want to let go. We are almost finished with the reassembly (I've had a lot going on lately and it hasn't come together as fast as I would have liked it to). It should be running this Saturday, however.
I already have a few bits of info to pass along to everyone, though. First of all, the quality of the product from Gasketworks is outstanding. The material that was used was .032" copper sheeting that was annealed after the stamping was done. If memory serves, the stainless steel compression rings were made from .005" material and, as you can image, they are paper-thin. The gasket comes with very detailed instructions for proper installation. As it turns out, the compression rings were the most tedious things to mess with as you have to install them after the first coating of Coppercoat, or whatever type of copper sealant you wish to use. Let me tell ya', folks...they ain't easy to put on without making a mess of the sealant!!! I suggest a very steady hand, some tweasers and, for those of you who are visually challenged (like I seem to be getting...my arms aren't long enough anymore, if you get my drift...), a big magnifying glass. However, once they are on, the instructions will tell you to continue putting light, dusting coats of copper sealer on both sides of the gasket (by the way, the compression rings go on the head side of the gasket). Once you allow that to tack up, place the gasket on the block; ONLY THEN do you install the head studs, lest you scrape the inside of the stud holes on the gasket as you slide it past the threads on the studs, creating a rough spot on the gasket. Once the gasket is down and the studs are in place, slide the head into place and torque it down to 10 lbs. The instructions say that it's best, if you have the time (which we did), to leave it torqued to 10 lbs overnight, then follow the regular torquing sequence the following day. The alternate instructions for that, in case you were having to do this at the track between races, was to torque it in sequence to 20% of it's total torque value each time around. One thing to remember with a gasket like this is that, being solid copper, it will not crush like the regular head gaskets will. In other words, it's .032" when you take it out of the package and it'll be .032" after it's torqued. They make them thinner for you guys who want to run compression into the stratosphere, or thicker for a more real-world compression ratio.
Now, for the disclaimer...you knew there had to be one, right? I ordered the gasket in time to get it installed and get the car sorted and ready for it's next race, which was this coming weekend. The guy told me that he would make the gasket that day and ship it the following day. Consequently, I arranged my schedule around that quote. After a week had gone by, I called him, only to find out that he hadn't even made it yet!! He apologized all over himself and promised me that I'd have it to me before the next weekend. This time, he came through but the damage had already been done. The bottom line is that, with my work schedule and other committments, the car will not make the race this weekend. If only I had gotten the gasket when I was supposed to have I'm sure I would have made it. So, the moral of this story is to make sure you build in a little extra time for a slip-up like this; I didn't and it bit me pretty hard.
Anyway, I'll let everyone know how it works once we get it running. There is a possibility that I'll have to use some kind of stop-leak product to keep water from weeping out from between the head and the block; I've been told by several folks who have messed with copper head gaskets to go ahead and pour the stuff into the cooling system before I fire it, just as a matter of course. I hate that crap, but I may end up having to use it. Again, I'll keep everyone up on how it goes. Please wish me luck...GOOD luck, that is...
Take care,
