steel headgasket

[L0rdexpectati0n]

looking for a steel head gasket any one know of a web site? or know the stock compressed head gasket thinckness?

[crazy steve]

I've never seen a steel 'shim'-type head gasket for these; the OEM type are hard enough to find... The stock-type gasket is .052" thick new, I can't say what the installed thickness is, but it can't be much less.

If you're looking for a slight compression ratio increase, be aware that using a thinner gasket or cutting the head will slightly retard the cam timing. That will offset any power gain from the compression increase unless you re-time the cams by slotting the cam sprockets, which is opening a whole 'nother can of worms....

[TomB]

I made a re-usable copper head gasket out of 0.9mm copper sheet, the original 'used' compressed head gasket was 1.2mm. 0.3mm difference would probably be the difference between a sloppy cam chain and a new one so I didn't consider the valve timing an issue. The original head gasket is made to accommodate rebores up 1.0mm bigger, when I made mine I made it a precision fit on the dowels and then a precision fit to the bore size which made more difference to compression.

I used the head as a template and spotted through the holes with a drill, then clamped the old head gasket to the copper as a pattern to scribe round, doesn't need to be too good as most of the head gasket is hidden, round the camchain tunnel and outer cylinder edges are visible, I then bolted the copper to a piece of plastic, I roughly cut round the shape with a hacksaw then used a sanding disc in my hand drill to clean up the edges making sure to have the direction of the disc always pushing the copper against the plastic. Bore holes were made by drilling some 10mm holes in a line to get a hacksaw blade in then by hand cut out the hole, they needed cleaning up more accurately with a half round file when the barrels off to use as a template, the original gasket was sloppy as hell

These pics are just before I finished the bore sizes using the barrels as a guide.




The engine runs really well and is very responsive.

[natemoen]

You wouldn't be able to remake any of those copper ones would you?

[bikerphil]

looking for a steel head gasket any one know of a web site?

Give these guys a call....

http://www.cometic.com/contactus.aspx

[skids]

I made a re-usable copper head gasket (snip)The engine runs really well and is very responsive.

Very nice!

[b.walker5]

There's a thread here somewhere in the archives on this. IIRC someone was going to 'water' cut some from sheet alloy, but IMO copper is better, and easier to work with. Copper gaskets were the 'norm' on Brit bikes right into the 80's. If making one, be sure to anneal it before using it, and then anneal it again before re-using.

[TomB]

Copper gaskets were the 'norm' on Brit bikes right into the 80's. If making one, be sure to anneal it before using it, and then anneal it again before re-using.

Yup, I stole the idea from fitting a copper head gasket when building my 66' Triumph engine

And yep, I annealed the gasket before use to make it really soft. Heated to cherry red and allowed to cool naturally. One of the lads on XS11UK forum recommends quenching in meths to stop the oxidisation, I didn't and had little oxidisation. When fitting I used a thin smear of clear silicon sealant around the camchain tunnel.

You wouldn't be able to remake any of those copper ones would you?

I will be doing for my other engines. They're so easy to make you're better off making them yourself, all thats needed in the way of tools is an electric hand drill and a round file, I didn't try to drill the holes very accurately, just drilled them small then filed them out to fit the dowels and stud holes, once slipped over the dowels on the barrel/cylinder you can trim the bore holes to be a neat fit.

I like the idea of being able to take off the head and re-use the head gasket by simply annealing again.

[TADracer]

OEM gasket compresses to .050"

OEM gasket compresses to .050" measured at the steel rings around the bores.

If you want to make a copper gasket and start experimenting with compression ratios, you can get very accurate thicknesses of copper of the type made for head gaskets from Hussey Copper. Its a bit pricey but you can get the same result of milling .010" from the head without maching the head and it is totally reversible if you want to go back to an OEM gasket.

A very thin application of liquid Copper Coat (or other quality sealer for copper) to the head and cylinder helps permanant sealing.

[mikej-t]

That's a work of art.....looks just great....! When I need a new head gasket I'll be going the same way...!