The V8 Owners Forum -

Anyone have experience installing composite head gaskets?

Finishing the rebuild of my 3.5L Aluminum V8, and I'm ready to install the heads. I'm using composite gaskets for the first time and would like to know if any of you have and particular tips or techniques for installation... surface prep, gasket dressing, etc.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

thanks

Ensure that the cylinder block and the matching surface of the cylinder heads are clean and free of any debris.

Place the gasket on the block deck with TOP uppermost. Do not use any sealant.

Position the cylinder head, located by the dowels.

Are your cylinder heads designed for 14 bolt or 10 bolt retention?

If the former, then you should also use a composite valley gasket, with the latter,..tin.

Ron.

When I had my RV8, I always used composite gaskets. I also always used the composite valley gasket. Its much better than the tin one.

Don't use the outer bolts if you've got 14 bolt heads.

Also really you should have 20 thou skimmed off the heads in order to keep the lifter pre-load and CR the same as with the tins

Just a thought, are comps available for the small bore 3.5, if not you may encounter some strange problems , Make sure the fire ring is a good match to the bore.

ian.stewart wrote:Just a thought, are comps available for the small bore 3.5, if not you may encounter some strange problems , Make sure the fire ring is a good match to the bore.

Yep they are available! V8 Dev or Real Steel flog them

I think D & D do them in the States.

Kevin.

thanks for the replies...

the cylinders were bored thirty thousandths
ten and a quarter to one pistons installed
head was shaved, although I cannot recall exactly how much
fourteen bolt heads... replacing bolts with ARP studs

when you say, "don't use the outer bolts", exactly which 'outer' bolts are you referring to... and why should I not use them?

I would advocate using the earlier type of head bolts. You can torque them down very nicely, and more importantly you can check them!

With the stretch bolts, you do 'em up, and that's that. I've had a few failures from stretch bolts, and they don't fill me with confidence.

Also, don't bother with the outer row of four bolts.

Chris.

When you look at the cylinder heads, those manufactured up until 1994 came complete with 36cc combustion chambers and drillings for 14 bolt retention.

Heads after 1994 featured 28cc combustion chambers and drillings for 10 bolt retention.

When you look at your heads, the four bolts you could leave out or run at a lower torque are those at the outside lower edge, adjacent to the spark plugs.

Ron.

ARP studs are a nice bit of kit!

all right... I know exactly which ones you're talking about now.

thanks