Head gasket options

[RangRayy]

Just like the title says^^^ I need ideas on what brand, thickness and tips on selecting the right head gasket.

In the middle of my intake swap I figured what the hell let's pull a head and see what kind of shape the cylinders are in. Long story short I am pleased with how they look, a little cleaning and it should be fine.

The engine is out of the truck and on the stand in my garage. After work I plan on pulling the other head and hopefully having the heads pressure tested. If all checks out ok I may let them clean the surface but no resurfacing. What type of gasket is suggested? I have tbi head 14102193

Edited to add casting of head if it makes a difference.

 

[phinix]

Is it stock or modified cause if its stock you should be able to get the OEM head bit if its modified your gonna have to take a couple of measurements to figure out what you need

 

[RangRayy]

It is stock as far as I know. Upon cleaning the Pistons last night I noticed a majority of them had a 3 stamped but not the 030 that means bored .30 over. Whatever the regular 3 means I haven't a clue.

I measured the bores with a set of calipers and every one measured out to be 3.995 almost a 4" bore. Now I know to get a more acurate reading I should've used a dial bore gauge but I didn't have one laying around.

I found this on several other sites OEM #10105117. Meant for a 4" bore at compressed thickness .28. That's what gets me lost what thickness to use.

 

[firebane]

Not sure on the specifics of your block but on my engine in my 74 I used Felpro 1094 gaskets. They are 0.015 thick.

Don't forget a 350 block is around 3.9-4.0 bore.

What you should do is find out how far up the cylinder the piston comes and choose your gasket that way.

The ideal quench for a sbc 350 is around 0.040 to 0.045 and Chevy was notorious for putting thicker than needed gaskets for "emissions" and safety reasons. My pistons were 0.030 down the hole so I went a little on the safe side and went with a 0.045 squish hence the 0.015 gasket.

 

[85c10owner]

It is stock as far as I know. Upon cleaning the Pistons last night I noticed a majority of them had a 3 stamped but not the 030 that means bored .30 over. Whatever the regular 3 means I haven't a clue.

I measured the bores with a set of calipers and every one measured out to be 3.995 almost a 4" bore. Now I know to get a more acurate reading I should've used a dial bore gauge but I didn't have one laying around.

I found this on several other sites OEM #10105117. Meant for a 4" bore at compressed thickness .28. That's what gets me lost what thickness to use.

Call a GM dealer and have them look up a replacement set of head gaskets and ask what the thickness is. GM use to use the shim .015 thick gaskets but with the TBI stuff I think they went to a little thicker gasket. The bore of your engine should be 4.0 if standard. Head gaskets come in a variety of gasket bore sizes from 4.0 all the way up to 4.160 or more. Safe bet is getting the GM gaskets from the dealer unless someone can give you a actual spec. And make sure they are compatable with iron heads. some with only work with aluminum.