Cometic Head Gaskets for 308 ?

There is a lot of movement with these blocks and I decided to change my order at the last minute after advice that you should really ensure very flat surfaces for the MLS gaskets like Cometic. I used some extra high temperature RTV on the water passages on the Elring gaskets and have been advised by a few people to re-torque the head nuts after a few hundred miles.

 

There are exceptional threads on this topic of head gasket. Very complex subject with one major issue that being cylinder protrusion above deck height and compress ability of the gasket.

 

I was just searching for a good quality head gasket for my Lancia this week and most performance engine builder out there highly recommend the MLS (Multi Layer Steel) gasket, here are some info about them:
https://www.dragzine.com/tech-stories/engine/choosing-mls-head-gaskets/

 

Hinecker did the thread “correct 328 head torque “ has the best headgasket discussion. Starting discussion around remark#40-45

 

See above post!

 

I was told you can’t use MLS gasket because of liner protrusion, you’d have to modify the block.

 

Hello all,
I put my engine back together using Elring gaskets from Superformance. Reason behind this was that none of the feedbacks I got about different materials and manufacturers were not consistent enough to convince me.
Martin from Germany did a extensive research on these gaskets and date of manufacture. It all pointed out that these gaskets were fabricated in Germany, not in Spain as many people assure using "junk".
I also had an issue with the tightening of the head nuts... Some manuals recommend angle torque others recommend 10 Kg/m.

Finally I opted for Elring gaskets and 10 Kg/m torque. Did a hydraulic test and started the engine. 500 miles later, engine starts right up, idles ok, does nor overheat and sounds great.
Temp goes up to 195 F and the fans kick in. I did notice that the header tank cap overflowed a couple of times. Replaced it with the 1.1 Bar instead of the 0.9 Bar, problem seems to be cured.

Another thing I did was before initial start up, I filled the header tank completely, bleeding the air out of radiator and thermostat housing while maintaining the header tank full. Connected a hose from the overflow of the header tank to a jug with coolant, so as I drove, the possible remaining air in the circuit could be expelled out and coolant would be absorbed back into the engine when it cooled down (copied this from my VW Minibus).

So far so good.

Hope this helps.

John.

 

Richard,
One last hint, my head gasket problem came from warped heads and block. Had to shave 0.15 on heads and block. Head gaskets don't start leaking (compression/water) all of a sudden. Generally it's a consequence of something else.

I have pictures of the whole process, if you're interested.

John.

 

The MLS gaskets can be used on reengineered blocks that do not require liner protrusion. These are Darton sleeves.

http://www.raceenginedevelopment.com/blocks/ferrari-308/

https://www.dartonsleeves.com/midinfo.html