O-ring it or not???

[DakotaKid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by glhsken For a street car, I would like somewhat of a fuse. Look at Reeves. He screwed up. Lost only a gasket. That was after tons of passes and some street driving. What would have happened if he HAD been running an imoveable head gasket. Bent rods?? Broken forged slugs?? Head damage from peices flying around in the combustion chamber?? Give me a fuse... short blocks aint cheap when done right.

Very good point!

[puppet]

I wouldn't do the head anyway TrboVan .... chances are, over the life of the motor, you'll be shaving the head before the block. First time you do that it's bye-bye o-ring investment.

[BUBBA]

I have an O-ringed block...can I go with a non-O ringed headgasket like the cometic?

Christian J. Grest

[DakotaKid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by puppet I wouldn't do the head anyway TrboVan .... chances are, over the life of the motor, you'll be shaving the head before the block. First time you do that it's bye-bye o-ring investment.

Already done.
With the proper cooling there should be no head warpage.

[minimopar]

Your forgetting about everyone's *******: Murphy. He is bound to notice.

[TRRBOJEEP]

Mine's o-ringed but not the block, I had the head o-ringed, (but I have a cast iron head, not aluminum) used a Felpro head gasket, with ARP 1/2" head studs. No problems.

[puppet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrboVan Already done. With the proper cooling there should be no head warpage.

Can I get that in writing? :P

I don't know if you can consider the gasket a fuse. It's not like they're rated to blow at XXpsi or in a expected manner. Fact is, most guys try their best to secure the head so the the gasket doesn't blow. At the power levels some of you guys are at, if something goes wrong, blown gasket or not, the engine is probably going to be toast anyway.

I know that o-ringing has help guys mostly with heads that were only clamped with 10 bolts vs. 16 ... talking V8's here. Our heads are about 3-4" shorter and a bit narrower but I'm sure some fellas think they're still 2 bolts short of a full load ... ummmm, from being perfectly clamped.

Hey, to each his own.

[glhsken]

I've seen it act as a fuse. What else would you call a part that "gives" or sacrifices itself when NEEDED to save more expensive damage.

You don't consider it a fuse. I do. I've built or been a part of 3-400whp engines for TD's. Done right, the fuse will never blow. But at those power levels (2-3 hp/cu inch) hiccups DO happen. To each their own.

[puppet]

Ken, you've probably seen it not act as a fuse too.
I guess the problem I have with the term is that there is no set pressure level the gasket reacts to. This all depends on installation technique. A real fuse has parameters.

This is all moot anyway from the standpoint some of the guys that develope high HP. They're confident that their motors is tuned right. A blown gasket, to them, is an annoyance.
.... like when they blow sitting at idle in a parking lot.

[glhsken]

Quote:

Originally Posted by puppet Ken, you've probably seen it not act as a fuse too. I guess the problem I have with the term is that there is no set pressure level the gasket reacts to. This all depends on installation technique. A real fuse has parameters. This is all moot anyway from the standpoint some of the guys that develope high HP. They're confident that their motors is tuned right. A blown gasket, to them, is an annoyance. .... like when they blow sitting at idle in a parking lot.

LOL... semantics With these 15-20 year old platforms, tuned right or not is merely the current mode. SOMETHING always gives out, even when you think you have replaced everything.

Let's not argue semantics, rather the rational behind the statement. From now on i'll type it "fuse" to remove any ambiguity in the statement.

BTW, if it blew sitting in the parking lot idling... something was obviously wrong to begin with.

[puppet]

Hey it's cool Ken. I just figure the guy's 3x7 ... if your gonna be living large at the track, stuff's gonna break, I know that ... thought he did too.

As for the parking lot thing, your right ... it's called FelPro.

[glhsken]

He does. You don't have the fastest 5 sp TD without realising that . We fully know stuff is gonna break... we'd rather have some "limited" control over what possible breaks.

[turbovanman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by glhsken tuned right or not is merely the current mode. . .

Hahhahaha, a TD tuned right,

I didn't think that was possible, lol!

But I agree with Ken, would much rather have a head gasket pop than blow a piston etc due to the gasket not giving out. Fuse is a proper term!

[Reaper1]

I made the mistake of o-ringing a block. I'm going to use it, but if I had it to do over again I wouldn't have done it. Tremendous waste of time and money in retrospect...

[glhs#064]

Well, it's a good thing I posted this before I went ahead and did it.