Original head gaskets and bolt sealer?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 228
Likes: 0
From: Evansville WI
Original head gaskets and bolt sealer?
I've got the heads off my '73 L-48. It's got just over 100K miles on it, and I'm the 3rd owner(lady I got it from bought it used in 1974). This car is very stock and almost entirely original. With about 96K on the clock when I got it, I naturally assumed that the motor had never been apart. I noticed a few oddities while taking it apart. The first was what I thought was an excessive amount of sealer on the bolts. It's was pretty inconsistant, very heavy on some bolts, almost none on others although it doesn't look or feel like modern silicone. The second is the head gaskets. They are basic stamped metal gaskets, with no brand or part number on them. Judging by the cylinder walls, the motor definatly has not been rebuild. The valve seals leak like you'd expect for a 100K small block chevy too, so I doubt it was apart for a valve job.
I am wondering though if my car had the heads off it at some point for some reason. Are the gaskets and bolt sealer method I described consistant with factory assembly from '73? Thanks for the info.
I am wondering though if my car had the heads off it at some point for some reason. Are the gaskets and bolt sealer method I described consistant with factory assembly from '73? Thanks for the info.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 6,134
Likes: 46
From: Raleigh North Carolina
Some people try to raise the compression ratio by installing steel shim head gaskets... they are thinner than standard composite. I used this "trick" on a blueprinted big block Ford I was tooling around in back in the 80's. Just a thought.
