Head Gasket swap

[superdave]

I have popped a head gasket on my 360(coolant leaking out side of block only)
Can I get away with replacing my .040 thick gaskets with a .028 thick to gain compression without any valvetrain problems?
Ratio now is 9.55-1 and have stock non adjustable valve train.
Also is it normal for a gasket to blow only on the outside of block?
Engine runs fine, no coolant inside,just pukes coolant between head and cylinder..
Thanks!!
Dave

 

[69 F!SH 360]

I too am wondering about reassembling with the thin head gaskets to add some compression - as superdave is asking.

In my case, a leaking freeze plug on back of driver side cylinder head on my driving 73 Barracuda 318 has given me cause to make a few performance improvements. The car is all stock, 318 w/A904 trans - which had lost reverse. It is embarrasingly slow. Rather than pulling the driver side head only to R/R plug, I though I'd just R/R eng/trans assy and make a couple of quick improvements. Will slap on new (used/working) A904, and pull both heads for a little milling, home port job, and installation of fresh brass plugs.

Motor is stock '73, and I do not feel like touching the short block (other than putting in the XE268 cam to complement the increase in comp that I am trying to achieve) at this time. Thanks for your thoughts,

Jon
67 barracuda 383S needs total resto
69 barracuda 360 in work, still
73 barracuda 318 needs some compression...
70 road runner 440
76 power wagon 400 also needs some compression...

Shelton WA

 

[fishy68]

If you blew a .040" thick gasket my guess is the .028" will blow too. To use the thin .028" gaskets you better make darn sure the block and heads are perfectly flat. I have only seen one leak like you say yours is and it had the .028 gaskets. When I took it apart it checked out ok (less than .001" variance accross the deck and head surfaces) so I cleaned it good and re-assembled it with fel-pro .039" gaskets and never had any problems after.