The head bolts are cheap. The first time you snap one off in the block at the 1,000 mile 90° turn, it will be more expensive than all of the $ you've saved on all of those engines by not replacing them, and then some.
Andrew
Head gasket
Moderator: Fatmobile
BACK to the question of gasket sealant; (this is based on 79-84 NA engines) in the past I have used hylomyer, spray on copper coat and brush on copper coat.
I now use absolutely nothing. Clean the mating surfaces, shine them up with a little emory or steel wool. I've seen guys get real excited about dings or nicks in mating surfaces. Don't be. Localized damage isn't going to make any difference. Percentage wise a ding or nick doesn't represent 1% of your gasket sealing area!!!!
The problem area I've always found is the little oval gasket that seals the pressurizeed oil port feeding from the block to the head between 3 and 4 cylinder next to head bolt. And I've seen plenty of head gaskets with a very poor o-ring type (sometimes a triple lip seal) seal in this area. The poor seal design combined with oil pressures that can easily hit 150psi on a cold start can result in a little weeping in this area. Drips down front of engine. Havn't figured out a good fix for this, maybe someone else has. regards R
I now use absolutely nothing. Clean the mating surfaces, shine them up with a little emory or steel wool. I've seen guys get real excited about dings or nicks in mating surfaces. Don't be. Localized damage isn't going to make any difference. Percentage wise a ding or nick doesn't represent 1% of your gasket sealing area!!!!
The problem area I've always found is the little oval gasket that seals the pressurizeed oil port feeding from the block to the head between 3 and 4 cylinder next to head bolt. And I've seen plenty of head gaskets with a very poor o-ring type (sometimes a triple lip seal) seal in this area. The poor seal design combined with oil pressures that can easily hit 150psi on a cold start can result in a little weeping in this area. Drips down front of engine. Havn't figured out a good fix for this, maybe someone else has. regards R