DanielRicany

Hey guys, I just put a brand new set of AFR 195 Eliminator heads on my 1985 Corvette. The car has 105k miles on it on the stock bottom end.

The cylinder walls looked good, when I changed my cam a few months ago the cam had average wear, when I changed the oil pan gasket the bottom end was magnificent, and the rear gears had no scratches or chips at all when I changed to 3.75s.

My question is though, I used a Fel Pro 1094 head gasket on a non decked surface. I cleaned the surface with a cookie and a scuff pad.

Will I have any problems with this gasket? It is a rubber coated steel shim gasket that is 0.015" thick.

There wasn't any gouges in the surface at all.

I have attached a picture of the deck.

Thanks for any advice!

Chad30021

If it was me personally before I put a steel head gasket on the block I would at least have had the deck checked to ensure it did in fact have a perfectly level plane. I would imagine if the engine had no damage whatsoever and no low or high spots visible that you might be OK however its a lot easier to do something right the first time then to have to do it again in the near or somewhat near future. That being said I have seen a few people just pull old heads off and slap new gaskets and heads on with little prep and get away with it. Just my 2 cents

BOOT77

gm 10105117 would be a safer bet.

DanielRicany

But that puts my quench at 0.052" instead of 0.039" which is what it's at now...

bjankuski

Run the fel-pro 1094 gasket, it will be fine.

John A. Marker

You will probably have to change out the head gasket in the next 60,000 miles anyway. So just line up your new gasket now while they are cheap compared to a couple of years from now.

Engines (L98 and others) that have stock cast iron blocks and aluminum heads experience expansion of the cast iron and aluminum at different rates. Over time because of this expansion and contraction, the head gasket will fail. It is just part of the animal. This is why GM went to the LT1 and LT4 that reversed the coolant flow going to the heads first. This reduced the amount of expansion and contraction and prolonged the gasket life.

GKK

Well, my 91 L98 Vette has 139k on the original head gaskets...I'd say they've lasted awhile!...

BOOT77

All I know is most will recommend flat and smooth heads/block for .015 thin head gaskets and it kinda looks like you used an abrasive disc cleaner on the block. If you did the surface won't be very even and you should read about the grit those get into your engine.

Still it could be fine, some people have great luck!

DanielRicany

Yeah I wiped the cylinder walls with a rag, and blew them out with a high pressure air hose, I shot it at the rings too so everything came up. Then I wiped some oil on the walls before I put the heads on.

JAKE-SON

If you have any doubts about sealing. I used the copper spray on my LT1 head gaskets for my 401 cubic inch with over 12 to 1 compression. MORE IMPORTANTLY i used STEEL SEAL. It cost 100 dollars for a dose for our V8 engines, but it has sealed up this high compression 401 engine with no problems. I recommend using it at directed and pour into your cooling system. My car is a daily driver and has been on the dyno plenty of times and holding strong.
Used Fel-Pro 1074 gaskets.

http://www.steelseal.com/?utm_source...l+seal+jumpfly

Ryan

BOOT77

This example is an alum head and alum is softer, but still.

http://www.enginerepairshop.com/abrasive-disc.html

Not sure if you kept your valley and the other side covered as you blew it off.

http://www.mycertifiedservice.com/_r...Procedures.pdf

I still use em just not on anything I can't clean off very well away from the open engine or that has too have a perfect surface.

coupeguy2001

I would have used a razor blade and holder on the block. less chance of an un even surface.
I would have put a rag in each cylinder, and a couple of towels in the lifter valley to prevent contamination while scraping the block.
I also clean one side, then clean the other side, then get a really strong light and look to see what I missed and clean a second time.
power tools are time savers, but good old debris prevention is preferred in my book.
Chevy high performance tech editor Kevin McClelland mentioned one time that compression changes in small amounts isn't important, but preventing detonation is.
Rethink your squish before you put the intake back on.

DanielRicany

I tried to but the stuff wouldn't come off. And there was too much.

vettespecial

good preventive maintenance is everything.

rklessdriver

You shouldn't have any problems. The Fel Pro 1094 is a very forgiving head gasket as far as surface prep and finish.

I have used the fel Pro 1094 head gasket on limited class dirt oval engines that get protested and torn down every week with no problems what so ever. Althou I don't care for the use of scotchbrite pads on machined surfaces, I wish my customers took as much time as you did to make sure the deck surface is clean when they put them back together.

People forget that SBC's used steel shim head gaskets from 1955 until 1985... machine work wasn't the most precise back in 1955.... the first composite head gaskets didn't show up until 1970 and then were only used on the 400. The rest of the SBC's still used steel shim head gaskets for another 15yrs.

We are talking about litterally millions of SBC's that used these gaskets without problem over 30yrs time.

The deck surface of those new AFR heads is far thicker, more rigid and stronger than all of that lightweight cyl head casting, smog era junk GM turned out using steel shim head gaskets.

Will