O-ring: block or heads?

Slysc

Registered User
I plan to o-ring my block or my heads. Which one should I get done the block or the heads?
 
o-ring: block or heads

The shop that did my machine work did the block. He said he thought it would work better? Tim:confused:
 
HEads are just easier to oring..Most dont oring heads..But I've had nothing but good seal issues with them,,Both my Turbo v8 cougar 28psi and my 87 stang (was 12 psi of whipple power) had em..So if those motors can stay together with em..Im sure your SC will do fine..My SC heads are also going to be oringed before installing them:O)
 
On detroit desiels they o-ring both the block and heads and use a big o-ring. When I suggested that to the engine builder he looked at me like I was nuts. If you could find someone eith the skill that would be the way to go. Tim
 
o-ring plus copper

I talked with Steve from total flow products today and he said that if I o-ring my heads or my block I would need to run a copper headgasket. Is this true?
 
total flow.......

I had my heads redone by them a couple of years ago. Steve does great work, unfortunately they never flowed the heads for me though. I'm getting them flowed this week. What are you having total flow do?
mark
 
re: O ringing

Bob Johnson did mine when he rebuilt my engine. He O-ringed the block, cut receiver grooves in the heads, and used solid copper head gaskets. This causes the solid copper gasket to deform and crimp between the block and into the heads. This gives the head gasket somewhere to go.
 
Well I'm glad to hear that some guys have done this. There are a few guys in Ontario who haven't had this done, & they have high HP, they just keep blowing HG's.

I'm working on finding a place around me do both the block & heads. What sort of prices did you pay? How long have they lasted after kgetting it done? any one have any troubles?
 
Sony,

Are you getting any coolant leaks with the copper gaskets ? I've talked to some engine builders about using copper and they said the copper was great on a race engine, but the heating and cool down clyles of the engine will harden the copper gaskets and begin to cause coolant leaks shortly after they are installed.

David
 
I o-ring all my harley davidson motors.I use rubber o-rings for the combustion,oil passages.
Some of these motors have 20psi + blower pressures and run nitro for fuel .have never had
a failure. I plan to go with rubber o-rings when i do my rebuild in the future for the combustion,
oil ,& water. If there it enough room for machining.
 
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Re Copper headgaskets

I think that I will have to keep giving her small doses of Alumaseal as a regular maintenance item. When I first fired it up I was getting a little weeping but with a small dose of Liquid Alumaseal that stopped. The biggest problem on our engines is the fact that they ONLY have FOUR headbolts (or in my case- Studs) around each bore and the rear water passages are awfully close to the edge of the bore.
The first line of defense is to make sure both the heads and block are perfectly true and flat. Then ARP studs plus O-rings, receiver grooves, and soft copper gaskets. On top of Ross forged pistons and Eagle rods. I also am running two pusher fans in front of the radiator and IC. I also have finely metered water/alcohol injection to cool the incoming air charge and also build a LITTLE head of steam in the combustion chambers to keep carbon buildup away and help ward off detonation. O-ringing the oil and water passages might prove to be interesting but we just used a very fine circle of copper RTV around everything.
 
Sony,

I'm currently having good luck with the late model 4.2 liter multi-layered stainless/ceramic head gaskets. I have a very smooth surface finish on the heads and a pretty smooth surface on the block (light milling serations visible) and use the ARP studs also. I'm using CAT "H" beam rods and Ross pistons with Total Seal gapless rings at 8.3:1 compression ratio. No coolant or cumbustion leaks yet (knocks on wood) with 16 lbs of boost and reving to 6500.

Is Jim D. using the same gaskets as you are ? Have you had your car on the track or dyno since getting the Bob Johnson engine installed ?

David
 
To get a near perfect finish after milling heads on our H.D.s .We would
use lapping compound,course grit going to a finer compound. The finished
head & cylinder on iron head motor needed no gasket. This I dont think could
be done with the SC aluminum head & iron block. But you can apply lapping
compound to the SC head & block and by hand move the head around in circular
motion to gain the finest finish.
 
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