head gasket

[sicivicdude]

I don't think the OP has a few extra bucks...

I'd be much more worried about coating the gasket than annealing and reusing. I'd be concerned that any liquid coating could run back down inside the cylinder before it cured.

BTW, my engine has been running an annealed head gasket for nearly a year now... no problems

 

[brandoz28]

I've done the annealing route as well. Worked fime for About a year, then I tore it down for an unrelated issue and replaced it

 

[sicivicdude]

I put my stroker vito's engine together and hadn't worked the combustion chamber out to shape yet. I started it to see how it did the way it was and boy was it a wild ride, but it had 204 psi of compression and started knocking on pump within minutes. I immediately shut it down and had to pull the head back off. I had JUST purchased the vito's BBK headgasket, I wasn't about to buy another one. I annealed it and slapped it right back on. No problems since and we're coming up on a full year since I did that with two trips to busco under its belt going back for a third in April and random rides around the house in between.

If you're one of the "insurance" people and have the coin to buy a new one go for it. I'm not claiming that an annealed head gasket is better than a new one (certainly not!), I'm just saying that an annealed copper head gasket can work well too.

 

[slickerthanyou]

By annealing u guys mean heat till cherry red and let cool down before install right!

 

[slickerthanyou]

Guess i should of read all the posts =-DUH!

 

[sicivicdude]

By annealing u guys mean heat till cherry red and let cool down before install right!

Yes. Crushing copper forces it into strands (basically) and hardens the structure. Annealing copper increases ductility and softens it. You heat it until the blue "chases" the flame and then either throw it on a cold piece of aluminum or water quench it (either will work).

Ken covers it all in his video (thanks Ken!) for doing it right.

Basically, you're softening the copper again so it'll seal back to both halves of the engine (head and cylinder)