Well I took her out yesterday for a spin and she was running a bit strangely....... didn't feel like she had any power when she had warmed up to running temp.....

I bound a nice straight bit of quiet road and floored her....... felt like an NA with no kick from the turbo's at all.....

I then noticed no heat from the vents.... well slightly warm but not hot like she usually is.......

Temp gauge was at middle on stock gauge...... So carefully drove her home.....

I left it till this morning and checked the radiator....... not much water in there and the same brown sludgy muck popped out when I filled her up as earlier in the year......

It looks like oil and water mix....... So need to get a tester to see if the head gaskets are done......

I feel sick now as I don't have any funds to sort this at all......

I will be flushing out the radiator and cooling system tomorrow or friday and hoping the alloy rad isn't blocked with the muck.....

Then it is compression testing time and finally leak testing kit on the radiator to see if the head gasket has gone.....

 

What is the best head gasket to get and anyone got an idea of how much they are????

Edited December 17, 201410 yr by veilside01702

Stock head gaskets.

Thanks Noel.... I will see if I can get price from my old work for some OEM ones tomorrow.....

 

Just looked at reviews and found a company called Victor Reinz who do the gaskets and have very good feedback on their products.....

They are rated well and compared to fel-pro who I have used in the past.....

Has anyone ever heard of them?

Edited November 20, 201411 yr by veilside01702

If I was you if simply use it as a chance to just get a cometic head gasket as really the are the best option overall.

If I was you if simply use it as a chance to just get a cometic head gasket as really the are the best option overall.

 

I read somewhere recently that they are not as good as they are made out to be........??

Most likely through people that haven't used them.

They are far better than a standard gasket.

Most likely through people that haven't used them.

They are far better than a standard gasket.

 

Cometic is a swear word! Definitely use stock gaskets Russ.

I guess then that to you noz this is no better than a standard gasket then and z1 have just wrote a load of crap to sell whats not needed?

 

http://www.z1motorsports.com/product_info.php?products_id=7587

 

My opinion is just that, mine, your opinion is yours. Opinions vary.

 

The Tomei HG is not only extremely expensive but also requires a surface finish that is too fine for most machine shops which is impractical. If used within the specification/tolerances I believe they're excellent.

The opinions of Cometic HG are changing amongst VG builders, after being tarnished with an unreliability record and high failure rate. I think this has become more apparent as they have become more popular within this community, although the bad reputation does appear to spill out across many other communities upon investigation.

Stock HG still have a proven reliability for longevity and very high power so it makes sense to stick with those, as an added bonus, they're also the cheapest of the 3.

To me the failures would be more down to incorrect proper preparation of the adjoining surfaces.

Can't see for any reason reason why they would fail other than poor preparation of the adjoining surfaces.

The standard gasket are good, but I still say/believe cometic are better.

If I was you if simply use it as a chance to just get a cometic head gasket as really the are the best option overall.

 

you need to read some other threads on here...

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

To me the failures would be more down to incorrect proper preparation of the adjoining surfaces.

Can't see for any reason reason why they would fail other than poor preparation of the adjoining surfaces.

The standard gasket are good, but I still say/believe cometic are better.

 

it's actually a poor design, they don't have a fully sealed setup.

http://www.twinturbo.net/nissan/300zx/forums/general/view/2560306/VG30-MLS-Head-Gasket-Comparison.html

The standard gasket are good, but I still say/believe cometic are better.

 

In your opinion, why are Cometic head gaskets better than OEM?

Better heat handling, keeps a good seal over a standard if heads do get a little warped and can handle higher compression from cylinders.

But if its not for some people to think there any better than oem gaskets then thats for them to choose, I personally prefer them to the originals.

Better heat handling, keeps a good seal over a standard if heads do get a little warped and can handle higher compression from cylinders.

But if its not for some people to think there any better than oem gaskets then thats for them to choose, I personally prefer them to the originals.

 

Dave, take a look a post 98 on the following page and the quote from Greg @ Speciality Z

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?177959-PowerZed-forged-engine-rebuild/page5

 

Veilside, might be worth a look through the last few pages of the above thread to help form your opnion before purchasing anything?

Edited November 20, 201411 yr by bigh

Dave, take a look a post 98 on the following page and the quote from Greg @ Speciality Z

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?177959-PowerZed-forged-engine-rebuild/page5

 

Veilside, might be worth a look through the last few pages of the above thread to help form your opnion before purchasing anything?

I have read that before.

But really how often does his engine in that get stripped down on a drag car and rebuilt running that power?

 

Like I said I personally prefer them for uprated engines and have had no problems with them.

Oem will always be a perfect fit due to them being designed by nissan for the engine specifically under normal use.

To use a standard gasket on a skimmed head tho does change the tolerances and a thicker gasket (cometic) imo helps to get it back to where it should be.

I agree that people will either like or dislike them but im on the side of preferring them over stock.

But really how often does his engine in that get stripped down on a drag car and rebuilt running that power?

 

SZ do all their builds with OEM gaskets.

I guess then that to you noz this is no better than a standard gasket then and z1 have just wrote a load of crap to sell whats not needed?

 

http://www.z1motorsports.com/product_info.php?products_id=7587

 

My opinion is just that, mine, your opinion is yours. Opinions vary.

 

The reason I am posting on this thread advising Russ to use standard head gaskets is because of my experience & knowledge on the subject, not my opinion.

 

He has no reason whatsoever to not use standard head gaskets. Simple as that, I'm afraid.

 

Regarding a certain company "writing a load of crap" to sell products.... Well, now's not the time or place.....

 

Or maybe, having recently returned from mapping Zeds in Spain and hearing the numerous horror stories from unhappy customers (wrong parts, terrible aftersales service, chips supplied running 25° at full load, a clutch that lasted 2 dyno pulls), now is the time to advise people who NOT to use.

Go ahead fit a standard gasket and up the power and when it does go then tough luck.

 

Where is your evidence of OEM gaskets failing on high power engines?

Stock HGs are used in many high HP builds stateside, they're actually very good at are more forgiving than metal HGs. I'd stick with stock HGs way over 500hp, they really are very good.

 

That's no opinion, that's 'fact'!

Honestly Dave THE best most experienced vg30dett builders in the entire world have said that stock head gaskets are their go to gasket until power beyond most of our dreams at which point tomei is the choice. It's not just a case of Noel having an opinion it's the opinion of the tuning community at large based on experience. Z1 are a vendor at the end if the day so they arnt going to publish openly that the cometic gaskets have a higher than acceptable failure rate when they have a stock room left and public pressure isn't behind it. The fact remains that several high end professional builds in this country alone have failed due to design of the gasket. In short stock gaskets are cheaper and on average more reliable than cometic, so there is no need for cometic. If there in and working that's fine but if you have to replace for whatever reason it's not worth the risk or extra cost they present.

 

On the subject of stock head gasket failure, I don't think it's honestly all that common. The biggest killer of zed engines in stock format is coolant system failure and the cause of most tuned ones is bad mapping, det etc. Despite what I was told years ago "zeds blow HG if you turn up the boost" we don't get a raft of this reported on the forum and I don't actually know anyone it's happened to off the top of my head. I personally think people expect too much out if a 25 year old engine at times, when you consider some of the poor maintenance and the amount of cars running 14 psi and a hope it works approach to a map it's not surprising they go pop.

 

Maybe it's time to move back to the topic at hand;

 

Russ are you sure your mixing oil and water? Have you made any tests to the effect?

Having loss of fluid and brown water could be as simple as a corroded leaking coolant pipe. The lack of power could be a secondary or unrelated issue.

so is tommi hg the best you can get ? is there a issue with getting the head skimmed in a special way to use one ? can some one tell me a little more that this ?

Most likely through people that haven't used them.

They are far better than a standard gasket.

 

 

My recommendations i would use Stock OEM gaskets

 

Cometic is a swear word! Definitely use stock gaskets Russ.

 

i wouldnt say its a swear word as such i have good few results with cometic .. but then again i have had more fail and seen fail than i can comment on here

 

I guess then that to you noz this is no better than a standard gasket then and z1 have just wrote a load of crap to sell whats not needed?

 

http://www.z1motorsports.com/product_info.php?products_id=7587

 

 

My opinion is just that, mine, your opinion is yours. Opinions vary.

 

just retailers not the end user like my self and others .. Stock gaskets are known to work well up to 700hp

 

http://www.z1motorsports.com/product_info.php?cPath=6_14&products_id=1241

 

This is the one I've used before and was completely happy with it.

 

Honestly Dave THE best most experienced vg30dett builders in the entire world have said that stock head gaskets are their go to gasket until power beyond most of our dreams at which point tomei is the choice. It's not just a case of Noel having an opinion it's the opinion of the tuning community at large based on experience. Z1 are a vendor at the end if the day so they arnt going to publish openly that the cometic gaskets have a higher than acceptable failure rate when they have a stock room left and public pressure isn't behind it. The fact remains that several high end professional builds in this country alone have failed due to design of the gasket. In short stock gaskets are cheaper and on average more reliable than cometic, so there is no need for cometic. If there in and working that's fine but if you have to replace for whatever reason it's not worth the risk or extra cost they present.

 

On the subject of stock head gasket failure, I don't think it's honestly all that common. The biggest killer of zed engines in stock format is coolant system failure and the cause of most tuned ones is bad mapping, det etc. Despite what I was told years ago "zeds blow HG if you turn up the boost" we don't get a raft of this reported on the forum and I don't actually know anyone it's happened to off the top of my head. I personally think people expect too much out if a 25 year old engine at times, when you consider some of the poor maintenance and the amount of cars running 14 psi and a hope it works approach to a map it's not surprising they go pop.

 

Maybe it's time to move back to the topic at hand;

 

Russ are you sure your mixing oil and water? Have you made any tests to the effect?

Having loss of fluid and brown water could be as simple as a corroded leaking coolant pipe. The lack of power could be a secondary or unrelated issue.

 

indeed

so is tommi hg the best you can get ? is there a issue with getting the head skimmed in a special way to use one ? can some one tell me a little more that this ?

 

Have a read of this information from Greg@SZ and see it that answers your questions:

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?177959-PowerZed-forged-engine-rebuild&p=1846656&viewfull=1#post1846656

I go to work for a day after posting this "please help and advise me" thread and find this lot on my return............

Thank you for all the professional and experienced choices and information offered for me to chew over.........

I shall be listening to the rather large consensus that OEM is the best and most reliable option for my non uprated rebuild.........

 

Thank you for your time and expertise ..... NOZ, Mark Derby, Stephen, AndrewG, FunkySi, everyone who has contributed to this interesting discussion.....

 

I am a bit peeved that my request for help seems to have turned into a dig at Noel for his time and effort to advise an owner who asked for help and advice.......

I Never usually say anything and try to stay impartial........ but I have found some of the comments made on here.... well..... I feel..... out of order and cheap shots....

such as "shut it".........

 

Please could a mod close this thread as I shall directly PM any specialist, experienced and respected Z tuners, builders and owners directly for help..........

 

Thank you again to everyone who has offered constructive advice and support.........

Edited November 20, 201411 yr by veilside01702

I can clean the thread up Russ and keep an eye on it to stay on topic or if you still want I will remove it mate.

Could we not just clean the thread mate? I can understand why you feel that way did get a bit handbags at dawn.