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Head Gasket

super99

super99

Well-known Member
Do you put anything on a new head gasket when installing? Back in the 70's we used to spray with aluminum paint when installing one, or just put it on without anything? It's on a Oliver 550 gas. Put a new short block in a Chevy 6 cylinder pickup back in the 90's, I think I used copper coat gasket sealer, don't remember that far back, but I still have some in the can, that's the only one I can remember having it for. Chris
 
If new gasket is "composition" and is kind of sticky already, no sealant is needed.

If an old-fashioned laminated gasket (two metal "faces" with material in between) I'd use "Copper Kote" or aluminum spray paint.
 
Got you beat , Copper coat , over 55 years and many engines, near a failure from head gasket that I know of.
 
I have been working on engines for a lifetime. I have never used anything on a head gasket.

If the sealing surfaces are clean, flat, and dry, the gasket will seal. If not, no amount of goop will make a good and permanent seal. Maybe back in the 1930s, when the metal wasn't as good, the machined surfaces were not finished as smooth, some sealers might have helped. Low compression ratios found in older engines also put less stress on head gaskets.

Gasket design and technology has come a long way since the days when gasket sealers were commonly used.

I recall seeing some of the (then) old timers putting heads on with an impact wrench and never using a torque wrench. Them days are long gone.
 
Let me put it to you this way on that tractor and that gskt. a clean dry deck and head a med coat of Copper coat is not a bad idea . Now there are some gskt's that you do not use anything on them . In days gone by when you were working with what was called STEEL SHIM head gasts You had best be usen something and Aluim. Paint was one of them . then copper coat came along first in a can with a dobber then in Spray form , As of now i can be one of them OLD Farts that can clam 60 years this summer of working and building engines and some being few on here have ever seen and have built from mild to wild . Back when Hecktor was a puppy and he died 40 years ago we had a small touch up spray gun that had Aluim. paint in it just for spraying head gskt. as it was faster then dobbing on Copper coat at the shop , out in the field or job site ya made a big mess dobbing on the copper coat . Some Mfg.'s gskts are better then others , some say not to use a sealent and others say nothing . on them i SPRAY .
 

I use Felpro and they make it very clear that they want you to use NOTHING, so that is what I use.
 

IF gasket sealer IS required, it will say it on the gasket. If it does not, most types would be OK with something - Copper Coat, Permatex Avaiation sealer, etc.

As said, if it the rubberized type of gasket, with sealer around holes, do not add anything.

Adding sealer will not do anything / interfere with the fire rings (metal ring around cylinder that seals the combustion chamber). All sealer is basically squeezed of of these when the head is torqued down.

Sealer aids in sealing around water ports, oil ports, etc. It helps keep water and oil from leaking into each other or to the outside.
 
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