Reuse Cometic head gasket?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 123
Likes: 0
From: Oregon City Oregon
Reuse Cometic head gasket?
Long story short I installed new heads, with Cometic head gaskets. Started car for about 5mins tops, but had a dead cylinder. Checked and no compression. Thought somehow I'd bent a valve during install. Removed head and everything looks great. No marks in piston or on valve and valve looks closed. I now believe I might have messed up the Harland Sharp rocker install on that cylinder. So my question is can I reuse the Cometic head gasket, or do I need order a new one? As per ARP head studs instructions I used I only torqued head down to 65lbs.
Thank you for your inputs,
Kevin
Thank you for your inputs,
Kevin
Advanced
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 85
Likes: 1
I reused mine. New motor had 2000 miles. Had nitrous backfire and blew the back out of the Fast 90 intake. A piece of the intake got in the cylinder so I had to pull the heads and check. Cleaned the gaskets with brake clean, painted them with cheap semi gloss black paint,( light coat) reinstalled them no problem. This was per Allen Futral.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 1,421
Likes: 3
From: Memphis Tn
I looked into this last week. I thought I may have to do the same after a water jacket leak on my 427 so I call Dave at Catek. He said once the gasket is compressed they should not be reused. I was also told by Darton that alot of tuners use the copper gasket sealant on these first, but Cartek never has. These gaskets are $200 so I don't blame you if you get away with it. My leak sealed itself after the first heatcycle, so lucky me! And 65/ftpds on the ARP studs is when you are using the moly lube, going more with the lube you could actually warp the head. Alot of tuners just use oil, and I'm sure the tq would be more.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,635
Likes: 2
From: Aloha, Oregon
Originally Posted by Smoke-N-Shot
I say no IMHO since it already has the imprint of the first install...
Yes, you can reuse an MLS multiple times, with confidence, as long as you clean it real good, and check that it is not damaged or corroded at all. I have access to an ultrasonic cleaner that I submerge the gasket into a bath of IPA/DI water, heat it up and ultrasonic clean them. I then spray the gasket both sides with Permatex Copper Spray-O Gasket offered by NAPA, item # 765-1226. I've reused a Cometic MLS set several times on one of my nitrous motors that I sprayed with 300hp 2 stage nitrous often. No issues. The last time I had the heads off because I torched out from #3 cyl after fuel noid failed closed on a big run, cut a trench in the aluminum head right under the head gasket. I repaired the head, reused the gasket, continued running the rest of the season spraying copious amounts of nitrous, running low 10's at 140. Hows that for a test?!
Robert / Gen 3 MS
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 123
Likes: 0
From: Oregon City Oregon
Thank you to all for your information and results. Robert from Gen 3 Motorsports is local highly respected tuner. I'll try his method and if I run into problems he's already offered help in the past. Great people at Gen 3 Motorsports. As usual, it appears clean, clean, and re-clean is the key. Again thank you all for your information. 
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 123
Likes: 0
From: Oregon City Oregon
I hear ya. Time; well for me its fun to work on my car. I learn more and more every day especially from this great forum. Cost; well I can well afford it, but if it's not needed, as others have posted, I can give it a try. If it doesn't work, removing the heads is much easier then many imagine. In the past I worked on my '95 Trans-am with an LT4. This corvette is so much easier then that car was/is. Again thank you so much for all your opinions and experiances,
Kevin
Kevin
