The gasket set I got for my 235 has a copper head gasket so I was wondering if it goes on dry or will I need to coat it with anything or should I have gotten the other style of head gasket.
Mayfield's garage always soaked the sandwich type coppers in water for 30 minutes, then installed them after wiping the surfaces...no 'sealers', just torque sequence, run for 15 to 20 minutes, cool and retorque. Mayfield's ran from '46 to '66, Santa Clara.
Or daub both sides with good old "Indianhead". Torque it, then retorque it a couple of times after heat and cool cycles and you will be fine. pdq67
Make sure the head and block are clean & dry. Use a copper coat spray on both sides of the head gasket. If possible, suspend the gasket with a wire so you can spray both sides without having to set the gasket down. Follow the directions on the can as far as setup time. How do I know? I worked for them for 30+ years.
on the nitro dragster we use heavy grease. in my street car it has o-rings and we use clear silicone. both cars have solid dead soft gaskets.
I use kopper coat (A****er Mike is chuckling right now) in place of the clear silicone, but it probably is really just a matter of preference/habit, I think even the aluminum paint would work. Just harder to clean up, which is a consideration, because I would think most of us are re-using them a couple times.
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