Thinken a head.Head gaskets.

[Snake]

Looking for your thoughts on Head gaskets.I have all ways used the Fel-pro blue,never payed attrition to thickness,its a stock bore 360,is there a thickness that would give me a better compression with out any lineament problems.Intake,heads have never been milled.Also don't want to play with push rod length keeping things simple and stock.Thankssssssss.

 

[Locomotion]

You have to go by the actual Fel-Pro gasket part numbers because there are different thickness Fel-Pro gaskets that are "blue". The 1008 for a small block is advertised at .039", which is a popular thickness. Not sure if they have a thinner gasket, but using any thinner gasket is like milling the head. It will affect lifter preload and port/bolt alignment, but it depends how the alignment is with the current set-up. With factory tolerences, you can't take anything for granted. Then there is the question of will the compression gained by a .010 or .020 thinner gasket be worth the effort.

IMO, if you have the top end apart, stay with a reliable gasket and mill what's needed on the chamber and intake side of the heads to gain the compression you want and insure alignment.

Searching the Summit site for head gaskets will give you a list of different thicknesses and brands they have in the search parameters for comparison.

 

[318willrun]

my opinion has always been that even the .039 thick fel pro gaskets are thicker than the factory steel. You could easily mill .030 off the heads when using fel pro (a good gasket by the way) and not really worry about pushrods, intake alignment, etc. Most of that .030 will be just getting back what you've lost by going to a .039 gasket over the factory steel gasket. I've done .040 on some small block heads and never had an issue.

 

[nm9stheham]

my opinion has always been that even the .039 thick fel pro gaskets are thicker than the factory steel. You could easily mill .030 off the heads when using fel pro (a good gasket by the way) and not really worry about pushrods, intake alignment, etc. Most of that .030 will be just getting back what you've lost by going to a .039 gasket over the factory steel gasket. I've done .040 on some small block heads and never had an issue.

That is not just opinion; it is spot on! The numbers I use:
- Stock shim gasket in the low-mid .020" range
- 1121G Mr Gasket: .028"
- Felpro 1008: .039"
- Standard Felpro: .051"
- Cometic: .027" to over .100"

So for the OP, the Mr Gasket model is the closest to stock.
- The 1121G will raise the CR about .4 to .5 points vs. the .051" standard Felpro on a standard stroke 360
- The Felpro 1008 will raise CR about .2 to .25 points vs. the standard Felpro on a standard stroke 360

 

[Snake]

Thanks guys.