question about head gasket

playboy2k4 · Post by **playboy2k4** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:06 pm

Hey is there anything wrong with using two MLS head gaskets with a head shim instead of splitting one? just curious as to how its supposed to work.

lvlistchif · Post by **lvlistchif** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:52 pm

idk if that would work, for some reason i have a feeling it may not seal correctly. everyone i heard splits one, idk if theres a reason for that but i know running high horsepower on a headshim is easy to blow it.

Kevin_GP · Post by **Kevin_GP** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:18 pm

I thought you bought roaches block?

playboy2k4 · Post by **playboy2k4** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:37 pm

Kevin_GP wrote:I thought you bought roaches block?

I did. But when I sent my head to the machine shop to get reconditioned they shaved it down too much and when I went to crank it up it bent two valves. So they told me I would have to get a head shim to level it back off so that wouldn't happen again. That's the only reason I'm using a head shim other than that yeah I do have roaches bottom end with the wiseco 8:1:1 in there

playboy2k4 · Post by **playboy2k4** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 5:11 pm

bump it up

Kevin_GP · Post by **Kevin_GP** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 5:49 pm

playboy2k4 wrote:
Kevin_GP wrote:I thought you bought roaches block?
I did. But when I sent my head to the machine shop to get reconditioned they shaved it down too much and when I went to crank it up it bent two valves. So they told me I would have to get a head shim to level it back off so that wouldn't happen again. That's the only reason I'm using a head shim other than that yeah I do have roaches bottom end with the wiseco 8:1:1 in there

Ohhh, shit man that sucks, in that cause get a head shim or double up on gaskets. They must have really shaved it down to much for the valves to hit, I know you don't want to hear it but you should get a new head. You can double up or head shim but neither will be great for high boost (assuming you bought that block for that reason). You don't really have a choice then, if anything I would get a head shim over 2 head gaskets, a guy sells them pretty cheap on neons.org.

playboy2k4 · Post by **playboy2k4** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:58 pm

Kevin_GP wrote:
playboy2k4 wrote:
Kevin_GP wrote:I thought you bought roaches block?
I did. But when I sent my head to the machine shop to get reconditioned they shaved it down too much and when I went to crank it up it bent two valves. So they told me I would have to get a head shim to level it back off so that wouldn't happen again. That's the only reason I'm using a head shim other than that yeah I do have roaches bottom end with the wiseco 8:1:1 in there
Ohhh, shit man that sucks, in that cause get a head shim or double up on gaskets. They must have really shaved it down to much for the valves to hit, I know you don't want to hear it but you should get a new head. You can double up or head shim but neither will be great for high boost (assuming you bought that block for that reason). You don't really have a choice then, if anything I would get a head shim over 2 head gaskets, a guy sells them pretty cheap on neons.org.

Yeah he shaved off .030 which was way too much but he said that the head was ran really bad so he had to take off that much to get it resurfaced properly. Yeah I just bought a head shim from Turbodudey but I wanted to know If it would be ok to just use two head gaskets (one on each side of the shim) rather than splitting gasket up? And yeah I guess the high boost"26psi" thing is out the question until I come up with the money to buy a new head.

quicksilvr · Post by **quicksilvr** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:43 pm

playboy2k4 wrote:
Kevin_GP wrote:
playboy2k4 wrote: I did. But when I sent my head to the machine shop to get reconditioned they shaved it down too much and when I went to crank it up it bent two valves. So they told me I would have to get a head shim to level it back off so that wouldn't happen again. That's the only reason I'm using a head shim other than that yeah I do have roaches bottom end with the wiseco 8:1:1 in there
Ohhh, shit man that sucks, in that cause get a head shim or double up on gaskets. They must have really shaved it down to much for the valves to hit, I know you don't want to hear it but you should get a new head. You can double up or head shim but neither will be great for high boost (assuming you bought that block for that reason). You don't really have a choice then, if anything I would get a head shim over 2 head gaskets, a guy sells them pretty cheap on neons.org.
Yeah he shaved off .030 which was way too much but he said that the head was ran really bad so he had to take off that much to get it resurfaced properly. Yeah I just bought a head shim from Turbodudey but I wanted to know If it would be ok to just use two head gaskets (one on each side of the shim) rather than splitting gasket up? And yeah I guess the high boost"26psi" thing is out the question until I come up with the money to buy a new head.

Normally you want to split a gasket simply to make it possible to get the timing belt on....because your shim is actually raising the head higher than normal. In your case of simply getting the head back to where it should be, I would use a full gasket on each side. If it leaks, then well, at least you tried. I don't think it will leak though if you use new headbolts/studs and torque them in the right order.

Kevin_GP · Post by **Kevin_GP** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 8:50 am

playboy2k4 wrote:
Kevin_GP wrote:
playboy2k4 wrote: I did. But when I sent my head to the machine shop to get reconditioned they shaved it down too much and when I went to crank it up it bent two valves. So they told me I would have to get a head shim to level it back off so that wouldn't happen again. That's the only reason I'm using a head shim other than that yeah I do have roaches bottom end with the wiseco 8:1:1 in there
Ohhh, shit man that sucks, in that cause get a head shim or double up on gaskets. They must have really shaved it down to much for the valves to hit, I know you don't want to hear it but you should get a new head. You can double up or head shim but neither will be great for high boost (assuming you bought that block for that reason). You don't really have a choice then, if anything I would get a head shim over 2 head gaskets, a guy sells them pretty cheap on neons.org.
Yeah he shaved off .030 which was way too much but he said that the head was ran really bad so he had to take off that much to get it resurfaced properly. Yeah I just bought a head shim from Turbodudey but I wanted to know If it would be ok to just use two head gaskets (one on each side of the shim) rather than splitting gasket up? And yeah I guess the high boost"26psi" thing is out the question until I come up with the money to buy a new head.

Oooo got you, yeah then split the gasket. You are already adding alot of material between the head and block, no need to add any more. And like quicksilver said, you will run into problems getting your timing belt back on.

00element10 · Post by **00element10** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:13 am

you'll be perfectly fine running 2 gaskets and a shim, that's what was in my last motor and it sealed fine. The timing covers are going to be a little tighter but you shouldnt have any problems at all with it sealing on either side.