Flapjack
Lunatic engine swapper
Money is super tight right now, so I'm thinking of reusing my head gaskets. I could see if they had a lot of miles on them, or they were bent in any way, but they're not. I planned on putting a couple coats of copper gasket maker on and calling it day.
They had roughly 1000-2000 miles on them, but look damn near perfect. The mating surfaces also have not changed. I could see if they had a lot of miles on them, or they were bent in any way, but they're not. I planned on putting a couple coats of copper gasket on and calling it day.
Most of the stuff I hear on the forums is "don't take the chance" and "think of all the work you'll have to do if you need to change it later", but I've reused them before without any issues, and have even had big guns like Justin @ JPC tell me he's reused them, too. From my experience, the head gasket design on our cars is very, very good. I've never had them leak, even when reused, and I can't think of one person I've known (online or otherwise) say "I blew my head gasket". It just doesn't seem to happen... unless installed/torqued wrong.
What I haven't seen from searching the forums is any examples of those that reused them, but regretted it. Also, some more stories of people reusing them with success would be great, too.
FYI, I am using ARP fasteners. The car sees 14psi on the street, and has seen 21psi (to make the power listed in my signature). I haven't run it at 21psi though. The current backend is useless for that much power right now...
They had roughly 1000-2000 miles on them, but look damn near perfect. The mating surfaces also have not changed. I could see if they had a lot of miles on them, or they were bent in any way, but they're not. I planned on putting a couple coats of copper gasket on and calling it day.
Most of the stuff I hear on the forums is "don't take the chance" and "think of all the work you'll have to do if you need to change it later", but I've reused them before without any issues, and have even had big guns like Justin @ JPC tell me he's reused them, too. From my experience, the head gasket design on our cars is very, very good. I've never had them leak, even when reused, and I can't think of one person I've known (online or otherwise) say "I blew my head gasket". It just doesn't seem to happen... unless installed/torqued wrong.
What I haven't seen from searching the forums is any examples of those that reused them, but regretted it. Also, some more stories of people reusing them with success would be great, too.
FYI, I am using ARP fasteners. The car sees 14psi on the street, and has seen 21psi (to make the power listed in my signature). I haven't run it at 21psi though. The current backend is useless for that much power right now...
