I had a conversation at work last night with a gentleman who works for a copper company here in the 'burgh. His company has a division that makes Head gaskets (copper) and Connecting rods(aluminum).

Anyway I was curious to see if I were to have the Steel shim Head gasket replicated in copper would that be of interest to folks on the forum?? I would shoot for the same compressed thickness. Please share your Thoughts and What is the correct compressed thickness of the Original steel shim gasket?


I have no Idea of what price would be? So Share what you would be willing to pay for such a gasket.

Greg

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http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

Cox Brothers offered a .030" and a .040". Around $100.

Tom

Before you go too far, we should talk. I am interested in getting Cometic to make MLS (multi-layer steel) head gaskets suitable for alum and iron Slants. SSDan made inquiries about this 1-2 yrs ago.

SCE still makes the copper gaskets, I think.

These would be as good or better than copper and would suit many applications, incl boost.

I need to call Cometic and find out where we need to go here.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I have never used a solid copper head gasket but have been told that they tend to leak coolent.

Most of the racers using a solid copper head gasket have the block o-ringed to maintain good compression - cylinder sealing and use other sealers to keep the coolent from 'sneaking-out' past the gasket.
DD

I've used copper gaskets in air-cooled motorcycle engines and even then there are a lot of pitfalls. First, the surface of the head & block has to be PERFECT - no texture at all. Second, they will all eventually leak no matter what you do.

Summary: unless you're talking VW or Corvair where the gasket is a simple copper o-ring, don't waste your time.

I used the Cox Bros (SCE) head gasket. My block was "O" ringed, and the gasket was coated with Permatex "hylomar" sealant. I ran that motor about 3 years, with no gasket problems, or coolant leakage, but it was not a daily driver.

PS when I replace the pistons (three broken), I intend on reusing the same gasket.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

I have a copper head gasket on my current engine. I o-ringed the block and used a material called hylomar to seal up the water. It leaked on the first startup but has not leaked since.

I'd like to go the Lou route with a MLS but will have to stick with copper in the mean time.

Ok good info there.

I Have never run a copper Head Gasket and Have Always run either a stock Steelshim or A felpro with no problems.

Greg

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I know plenty of guys that use them successfully with o-rings in highly boosted Mitsubishi turbo engines but they tear them down pretty often. I also know guys that can't get them to seal even with orings. Bigger bores have more problems (less space between fire rings).

I talked to Cometic last year at PRI - they said they'd need a pretty large order to justify the cost of the tooling. It would either take a slant six part company placing a bulk order or a very large group buy.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

Interesting. I wonder what "large" means. They say they do custom gaskets on their site, so maybe that's bunk?

I would guess $80-150/gasket would be reasonable and I'm sure we could sell 20 gaskets right away.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

The Guy I was talking to About the copper stuff said they Do the Head Gaskets with a CNC Waterjet MAchine.. So There is not a lot of tooling setup there.

Greg

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The number I seem to remember was 50 to 100.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

If I have a spare $10k sitting around, I'd rather have an alum head...

A lot of the "tooling" might cross over to 2.2L/2.5L or 2.0/2.4L gaskets they already make. Other apps they make have ~88-89 mm bore size too.

I'll still call them.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I have gotten a copper head gasket from the Coxes. Befor they carried them I have used gasket shops from the back of national dragster. I have never found a copper gasket shop that did not have a template or complain about making me one. But the Coxes have one on the shelf...
Will