Elring Head Gasket Problem

So I am already to reinstall my heads and the hole is too small that goes over the oil feed /restrictor dowel that stands proud of the block. The hole is 9.57 mm and the restrictor is 9.97mm. No way it will go on without messing up the gasket. Has anyone ran into this problem? They are the later style gasket with the printed red seal. Bought these years ago. I could Dremel the hole bigger but I am not real hot on that idea.

 

A couple of pics to illustrate the problem. I have sent these pics off to Elring so we will see what happens.
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Numbers are a little off as I posted and then took the pictures but the difference between the hole and the dowel is large.

 

Kevin, the hole in your gasket actually looks bigger in diameter than mine. Yours runs close to the sealant whereas mine has a noticeable gap. Trying to install mine flaked the gasket material a little and that is with me being super careful. There is metal sheet sandwiched between the fibrous material and I would have to think it would deform a good bit going over that restrictor/dowel. I am running over to T-Rutland on Monday to compare my gaskets to more current Elring production. I don't see anyway this could be anything other than a production error. I bought these years ago but they are still new in the package. I am holding my breath waiting for a reply from Elring.

 

I may try the punch on my gasket just for fun. It is flaked around that hole so I won't use it anyway.

 

Wow! Heard back directly from Elring this morning and it seems they may send me replacment head gaskets. Fingers crossed!

 

Elring has been pretty responsive to the problem. A couple of the stud holes are off enough to bind. Way too much work involved in replacing head gaskets to take a chance on an iffy gasket. We will see if Elring replaces my three sets of gaskets all with the same problem.

 

Elring came through on replacing the head gaskets. Very nice folks to deal with. The gaskets I received have a slightly tacky film of sealant over the whole gasket. Maybe they have been this way for a while but it is new to me. Looks like a good idea.