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Old 09-07-2014, 12:53 PM
Hecklebone Hecklebone is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 79
Default Head gasket & over heating

When I disassembled my engine after over heating and blowing the head gasket, I noticed how restrictive the gasket was. I am experimenting with opening up the one hole/notch MLS gasket to flow more coolant.
In addition to making the existing holes the same size as the head and block, I added the small holes between the bores on the top side. In the stock gasket these are closed, as in the first photo.

Here is what i did:
  1. Scan - To capture the imprint of the head and the block on the old gasket, I scanned both sides of it. I could not scan the entire thing in one go, so I had to stitch a few scans together as you can see below.
  2. Trace - Using Illustrator I traced the coolant orifices on each side.


    Skip ahead here to how this drawing actually came out.

  3. Port - Red is top, yellow is the bottom and blue is my own averaging of the two. My idea here is that I don't want a cavity between the surfaces, but a step.
  4. Cut - I used a local waterjet shop to do the cutting. They practiced on my old MLS gasket and it delaminated a bit. Notice the top and bottom below, perfect on the top, .002" lip on the bottom the I filed off.





  5. Chamfer - The water jet cutting sucked a little of the gasket coating off the front and left a small lip protruding underneath. I used a small file to smooth them out.

Comparison - Here are photos of an unadulterated gasket under the modified one. You can see there is a huge difference. This modification has opened up the head gasket so that it adds no restriction and has the same opening as the head and block.







I estimate that I have almost quadrupled the orifice area from a stock gasket.

Check out the stock one:



And afterward:



This HAS to help with the heat. I'll keep you all updated.
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