WHICH HEAD GASKET FOR 250

[BCOWANWHEELS]

sce will laser cut you a gasket, theres several companys in the race world that will do it. there hi money though. and you cant cut your own sorry to say

 

[CZLN6]

Howdy All:

Chad- The difference is the bore of the gaskets. 200 & 250 head gaskets come with a 3.75" bore. OTTOMH, the 144 &170 have a bore hole of 3.60". Using a 144 or 170 gasket on a 200/250 would leave a crevasse that may cause sealing problems. Using a 200/250 head gasket on a 144/170 Would have the gasket inside the bore walls, disrupting flow and possibly becoming a hat spot. The one instance I know of were a small head gasket was used on a 200 rebuild was a snow packing machine. It was done several years ago and I haven't heard of how the engine is doing lately.

I am anxious to hear the success of PB's reuse of a OEM shim gasket prepped. OR from anyone reusing a stock steel shim head gasket.

Adios, David

 

[bubba22349]

@ CZLN6 and Powerband: Actually back in the day (my low buck high school years) if a steel shim head gasket was still in reasonablely good condition i.e. Not rotted out, cut, blown out etc. I would reused them by painting them with some silver or aluminum spray paint and put them back together. It was a fairly common practice that I learned from an old mechanic, and don't remember ever having a problem with a used steel shim head gasket. Just as long as the block and head are still flat and true there is realy no reason for it not to work. The spray Copper Coat is much better to use and I wouldnt hesitate to reuse a good steel shim with it. Back in those days there were many drag racers who had copper head gaskets made so they could reused them over and over too. Good luck

 

[CNC-Dude]

Can't I locate the right thickness 'sheet' having the right properties and cut my own? Or are the 'sheets' w/the right properties (compression, heat capable, leak proof) unavailable, quite expensive…

It's not the thickness or material that is the problem, its the process of embossing the steel that requires a massive die to form it that is expensive.

 

[Econoline]

Chad those 144/170 oem gaskets have bores that are to small

 

[chad]

"...bores that are to small…'
stoooopid me, of course, got it now…

Thanks Mr B - sce is one of the problems for me - expense.
and
CNC- reminds me of PB's pic. Is embossed the 'higher' and 'lower' 'dents' seen in his pic of the steel shims?
I can't do that at home… hafta go back to all those local machinests (thousands of em here)

 

[BCOWANWHEELS]

cometic makes good gaskets too

 

[drag-200stang]

cometic makes good gaskets too

They make a head gasket for a SB-I6 ????

 

[CNC-Dude]

cometic makes good gaskets too

They are good, but they require some additional prep machine work that many guys just aren't willing to perform or do. Plus, not all mom and pop machine shops can do the necessary required machine work to allow the user to use this type of gasket. So you may have to seek out more modern facilities to do this work which can add additional costs and maybe farther traveling distances to the budget.

 

[woodbutcher]

Cometic does make good head gaskets.Does10`s uses them.As far as do they make gaskets for the small6.Their business motto seems to be"If you got the money,honey,WE got the time".As the old song says.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo