Don't hate me for asking but... Head gasket Re-use?

I have a Plymouth 6 flathead to which I have fitted cast iron headers, an Edgy dual intake with a pair of 94's and a new Edgy head will be here next week.

I got it running yesterday with some smoke, hopefully from where it's not been run for many years and some valve noise. Took off the head today after noticing that I had a stuck valve which I have now successfully released.

Simply put I would like to know if I could re-use the old head gasket, it's clean, flat and to the eye looks ok and being in the UK I can't just pop to my local motor factors and pick a new one up.

Now I can already hear you inhaling sharply through your teeth and normally I make or buy new gaskets for everything but this??

Thoughts.....

 

Actually if the gasket is steel or copper you are in good shape. You can recoat with sealant and reinstall.

Tightening, loosening and tightening a fire ring around a cylinder actually provides a more consistent clamp distributing the load evenly. Watched a team working a head gasket issue take measurements, torqueing the head gasket twice was the best process.

Doug

 

If you can afford a head so should be able to buy a new gasket, it's cheep insurance. Why run the risk of having to take it apart again?

 

Being a flathead, it's fairly easy to remove & reinstall the cylinder head. Give it a shot if you're confident that it will seal. Personally, I would never consider reusing any gasket, nor the head bolts, but thats just me.

 

some of my briggs&s engines ran fine with reused head gaskets after painting with hi temp silver
since you have new parts still coming in - maybe try a very thin coat of anti seize

 

Re-using a head gasket is probably like wearing used skivvies with skid marks. You might get away with it, but you'll always know its there.

 

If you are using a new head, then the sealing "faces" will be meeting for the first time. A new gasket will afford better sealing, than a torqued, deformed, cold worked copper sheet, for example. PLM49's is direct experience below, what I wrote is strictly referring to general practices.

 

I've done it, on the same motor. I was a kid and poor and in a hurry. It worked. I remember smearing the heck out of it with gasket goo. Nowadays, I would use copper spray-a-gasket on both sides.

The weak point in these motors is the thin area the head gasket has to seal between the 3 siamesed cylinders. If you are good to go in this area, you will have no problems at all.

MoPar flathead head gaskets are probably not as off-t******lf in old Blighty as they are here. So go for it.

 

if you had no other choice,try it but if its available,go ahead. buy one.like above cheap insurance.don't want to risk new head.for the price/wait

 

buy a new one

 

I have used the same old head gasket a couple of times on a flathead 4 cyl Farmall Cub tractor, that like you, I had to free a sticking valve a couple of times (open vertical stack).

I had no issues at all.

I would do the same now if I was in a real pinch, but if available I would get the gasket.

 

I always reuse steel shim head gaskets. Never had an problem of any kind.

 

I've reused a FelPro Permatorque head gasket set ummmm, I think four times now on the same 327 Chevy. At first I reused it because I was extra low on bucks and I knew the heads were coming off soon and I just wanted to know if the engine would run. Ever since then it has been kinda a test how often I could reuse them before failure. No failure yet and they are on the engine in my avatar. Of course now that they have been squished I have to retorque them after the engine goes through a heat cycle when anytime I replace the heads.

 

Thanks for the input guys, I think I will try and curb my impatience a little and if I can locate one before the end of this coming week then new it is, otherwise it's the old one all the way!

Head arrives Wednesday so can only wait so long!!! I need my fix soon.

 

If its a copper gasket you shouldn't have any problems unless it was damaged when you removed the head. Most copper gaskets can be re-used successfully at least once, some can even be annealed and used over and over again, but it depends on their construction and composition. Old Triumph motorcycles used copper head gaskets, and their manuals used to contain info on how to anneal them for re-use, at least all the way up to '56, and probably up until '63 when the unit engines came out. (ie, heat the copper red hot and then let it air cool.)

I can't remember, but if the Dodge head gasket doesn't contain any steel rings around the combustion chambers you shouldn't have any issue with annealing the copper and re-using the head gasket. Properly annealed the gasket should seal pretty much as if it were new.

Personally, if I were installing a brand new head I would install a new gasket. And of course if you look in the mopar manuals it will tell you to always use a new gasket (I even checked the original manual for my '37 Dodge). But ****oning it back up with the old head and annealed gasket after unsticking a valve wouldn't bother me at all.

Here's a little info from a pre-war brit forum on annealing copper. The response is spot on...

 

If this is either a copper or steel shim gasket, the reuse it.
Claen gasket thorughly with a non petro based solvent, (acetone)
anneal it, rosebud torch or 450 degrees in oven for 1/2 hour.
buf the head and block witha scuzzy
chase and clean head bolt threads as well as bolts, lube or sealent
coat it all up with copper gas ga cinch.

if its MLS, order it and pay same attention to cleaniness.

 

I've seen copper gaskets re-used on some pretty good running flatheads at Bonneville by old timers.

 

I have reused them ,painted them with aluminum paint.

 

A composition gasket (metal on both sides, cushion center) can be reused if it hasn't been in sevice for a long time. I give them an even coat of aluminum spray paint when installing them, torque to specs in incremnts of 10-15 ft/lbs, twice around the pattern at final torque, retorque after initial warmup.

Frank

 

I have to agree with the majority. I have seen copper asbestos gaskets reused successfully wow the spell check works.

 

Unit Triumphs had the same gasket except for the extra head bolt hole.I always annealed them by heating red hot and quenching in water.I believe copper can be softened either way,air cool or quench.Quenching in water is handy for small copper rings used on oil and brake lines.

 

Wipe a film of "Loc***e" High Temp retaining compound [ the green sh*t ] around the "fire ring" of the gasket.

I did an emergency repair on a Jap diesel this way for a friend [to get him home]
4 years later, he still is using it [ as is ]

The gasket won't be "re-usable" next time though

 

No one has used Gold Spray Paint..........I wonder why? Huffers use Gold........

 

It can be reused as said but instead of the spray copper sealant get the liquid if available,works better ,even though it does work order you a new gasket anyway.

 

I have re-used head gaskets on old Mopar flatheads back in my younger days. Clean the gaskes and surfaces, coat with "Coppercoat" sealant and reuse. A retourque after running a bit would be a good idea. Don't remember ever having a failure.

 

try before you buy , might get away with it . Don't forget it though .
my .02

 

can't find any . Wal mart stopped saling it .damn huffers.

 

Don't forget to retorque the head.

 

An old timer who I trust well once told me if it's been torqued but not ran (read:hot) then you can get away with re using them. Not sure if he was referring to a specific type or not.. I've personally never had the balls to try it.

 

Its a m***y combine engine you could have probably run it without a head gasket?
I think you could ha got ahold of a place like
Patrick Edwards ltd tractors, machinery spares