N9t Headgaskets

[Trevor]

So i've heard some talk about the quality of these gaskets. Does anybody have experience to share regarding which one is better or what you've had success with? I'm especially interested in a fairly high degree of durability for higih boost situations... no grandma driving here! I know there is also a race gasket made by meillor too.

[Bean]

It's been discussed before - but I think using a custom copper gasket (or multi-layer steel) w/ studs instead of bolts would be the way to go for high power and durability.

I know a guy that had some made for his 1.8L Turbo Subaru and they sealed fine. (They also looked like I could have done better making then with a jig saw in my basement) - and they sealed fine. (Paeco Industries made them). The key was using this expensive sealing spray designed for copper gaskets, and making sure the gasket was annealed before use.

I'm not sure what ARP would charge for matching up a set of studs and nuts - but it shouldn't be hard. There's another supplier (Raceware) of really high end stud kits I contacted - but $1000 USD was the going price!!! ARP would likely be pricey too - but not nearly as much. Even finding suitable OEM stud kits from another motor would be an improvement over bolts - but that's likely to be open for debate. I prefer studs as it's a much strong design.

Rabin

[Trevor]

That would be pretty trick to use a setup like that. That's what lots of the import guys use (copper headgaskets + ARP studs). I know what you mean about the jigsaw... My brand new headgasket doesn't even have round cylinders.. :-/ Oh well it probably won't make much of a difference anyway. I had heard that the meillors had aluminum seals around the cylinders which made them weaker but a little magnet that i had in my drawer had something else to say about that theory... So i'm probably going to try the meillor that i got, as any other alternatives will delay my rebuild even longer and drain my already-dwindeling cash supply further.