[Dr. Johny Dodge]

thanks for pointing that out ..I thought I was looking at standard steam holes but yes they are to close together

though .. I'd just drill it for the regular steam holes and use it over the other one
and .. every cross drilled I've come across went in the scrap pile 'cause they were ALWAYS cracked between the steam holes and the cross drillings ..every single one of many ..

and I still wouldn't buy the one with the metal rings around the oil drain backs.. I would never shim the front of the head up for such useleness

the headgasket dosen't fail there ..unless you get the mounting bracket for the dipstick caught between the head and block lowering the head in place ..that puts a really nice crimp in the gasket

 

[arieskcar]

thanks for pointing that out ..I thought I was looking at standard steam holes but yes they are to close together

though .. I'd just drill it for the regular steam holes and use it over the other one
and .. every cross drilled I've come across went in the scrap pile 'cause they were ALWAYS cracked between the steam holes and the cross drillings ..every single one of many ..

and I still wouldn't buy the one with the metal rings around the oil drain backs.. I would never shim the front of the head up for such useleness

the headgasket dosen't fail there ..unless you get the mounting bracket for the dipstick caught between the head and block lowering the head in place ..that puts a really nice crimp in the gasket

Modern cars are all MLS and the gaskets rarely fail. The heads warp/erode and bolts loose tension.

For the gaskets we have access to, the Mopar ones keep blowing out the fire ring in the corners and are almost as expensive as the MLS.

MLS is great if u have big money for the required surface finish. never tried it.

So far the Apex and Fel-Pro are what I've been using.

I think Naj had a Mopar fail and has been running the hard Fel-Pro for years no issues.

I'm running a few cars on the original gasket from the 80's some hold up.

86 T1 200K still good.

But most of the Mopar gaskets do this

Or this

I'll stick with Apex.
It is the Great white shark of the 2.2/2.5 headgasket jungle.

If you don't like the metal rings of the Apex or Fel-pro and the Mopar one is hard to find there is another option.

DNJ HG145

Anyone want to try it?

 

[Ambrosepiu]

photos after warm up. View attachment 284776
View attachment 284777
View attachment 284775

This situation does not look optimistic.

 

[Jeepster2589]

This situation does not look optimistic.

Fixed after re-torquing head bolts to 90ft-lbs