Hello I have some head gaskets I am going to put on my 1942 mercury, they are made for ford by some asbestos company, should I spray them with copper spray or just put them on?
Smear some heavy grease on both sides of the gasket. Make sure that the surfaces of both the block and the heads are smooth, flat and clean. Sneak up on the torque as you tighten the nuts.
I did a head gasket on an inline 8 flathead last year, I sprayed both sides with the copper spray, but it had an OEM aluminum head. I've been told about the grease thing but was told just a light coating, the theory being that it allows the metal to crush/squeeze/shape to the surfaces without binding. My gasket was annealed copper and composite, block was iron. Yours looks like steel composite. If you grease it be thorough vs thick. Gonna get hot in there.
My engine was recently re built, heads and block were mechined, I had Best gaskets head gaskets witch were the copper sandwich type but the coolent wicks through the fiber, I tried 2 sets of them, they both did it, 1 set with copper spray and one set with out. Beads of coolent all around the outside but none in the cylinders Then I got some Fal-pro witch were terrible, they were a one size fits all gasket 221 and 239" they were loose on the studs I tightened them down in abou 4 stages to 60 ft pounds and then re torque 3 times after heats cycles and a few hours driving, I had bubbles in the radiator and a leak between 2 cylinders, just took them off and I think I used too much copper spray and it held the gasket off the block
This is one of the few cases where I would say buy new! Gasket materials are so much better now then they were than not to mention just because that head gasket looks good doesn’t mean that it is. Yes it may be good but may take the chance? I have never heard of Hutter Racing engine, Billy The Kibb Performance Engines, or any other racing engine machine shop/engine builder using 20, to 75 year old head gaskets.
My engine is not a race engine, he is probably using solid copper and pulls the engine apart regularly. I am on the other side of the world and not much choice, lots of NOS parts still in stock here tho
Yes. There have been a few complaints about Best Copper Sandwich gaskets on "The Ford Barn" over the last few months. I've always used Fel-Pro composition gaskets and they have never caused me any problems I don't like copper gaskets in general because of electrolysis problem caused by dissimilar metals. This is especially true with aluminum heads.
Considering the poor quality of the gaskets available for the flathead these days for some time now I have found better reliability using good old stock gaskets. The Ford gaskets you asked about will certainly work much better especially due to the filler material being asbestos which is by far superior to anything used in gaskets today. Now about what to apply on the gasket surfaces. Every engine I build when using either copper or steel surfaced composition gaskets I apply silver spray paint to both sides. Three light coats per side allowing a short time between coats. If for any reason the heads need to come off again these gaskets once cleaned and painted again can be reused with out any issues at least that's been my experience. Another detail torque at 60 pounds is to high you risk pulling a thread in the block that old iron can give us fits when we least expect it. What I do is use 50 ft pounds doing it in three steps following the Ford torque pattern. Then as you do after each of at least three additional heat cycles check the torque again. These heat cycles are not by driving this is done after warming up while just running but not being pushed yet. Some patience helps greatly for success at times I feel is one of those times.. Also I mention this last detail only due to reading how others first fire there flathead engine up after a build running it with no coolant in the engine. That's never a good idea. Ronnieroadster
I found my heads were not flat, they cleaned up with 3 thou taken off them, this may of been my problem all along? I think with Best Gasket copper sandwich gaskets the surface needs to be perfect of they weep I went with Fal-pro in the end, they have copper rings around the water holes , I ran my engine for about 20 seconds with no water and then did a re torque the next morning and all the head nuts moved, did another run with water till it was at 180 degrees and drained the water when it was cool and another re torque the next day and some of them moved a fraction, I am putting a pen line on the stud and the nut to see how much they move. I talked to 3 rebuild shops who do flatheads and they all sed do a run with no water but keep it short, the nuts moved alot after that 1st run
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