Competition Painting a head gasket?

[Cummins724]

I was talking to a few heavy drag racers this week about blowing a head gasket on my 99. One guy is well respected in my community for the cars/ engines that he has won multiple contests with. He happened to mention to me... "did you paint your headgasket with high temp engine paint?" I never heard of such a thing, but he claims that he can hold a head gasket alot better on his race car with them painted. I asked the guy who is doing the new orings on my truck & he never heard of this either... . just kinda laughed at me. Anyone else heard of this?

 

[BPonci]

If you look at the head gasket you will notice a coating on it. They call it a sealistic style head gasket. Designed to be installed dry. Thats why you must clean the block free of any grease or gunk.

 

[JFaughn]

Maybe 25-30 yrs ago the racers used to use a cooper cote spray , but now the tech. , is so involved that , that I would think that with out a lab , you realy cannot do better .
As with almost anything , we do not have lab access so , its foolish to try to out smart a engineer with no knowledge , lab , ect.
Some may take as a challenge , its not , its comin sense , that with the training & equipment , you can not over come those that have those available .
Sometimes some one may have something work , or seem to , but with out the above you do not know why .

 

[Cummins724]

I was only trying to find out if you guys have heard of this before... . trust me I didn't do it or think of doing it. I was just curious as to what the benefits would be if the new gaskets already have a silicone around the ports.

 

[MCummings]

At a speed shop I used to work at whenever the head and block were not perfectly flat, but were pretty close, and the customer didn't want to pay for "decking", we would paint the headgaskets with copper cote. The stuff is still sold at autopart stores. Worked pretty good, but would not recomend it as the right way to do a head job.



Merrick

 

[B.G. Smith]

I used to spray the fiber type head gaskets on gasoline engines so they would not be so hard to remove the next time. I would be afraid to try it on a high compression engine like the diesel. Just hope there is not a next time too quick. bg

 

[DRadzierez]

Yes Ive heard of this. Back in my early gasser pulling days we always spray painted stock style gaskets (hill jack engineering). I still spray copper coat on my copper head gaskets with great success. But spray painting used to be popular around here years back and some old timers still do it.

 

[Cummins724]

I've heard of spraying the coatings, but never heard of spraying a stock style head gasket with high temp engine paint. The guy actually told me that it made his race car gain 4-5 passes using this method over a non coated gasket. I asked him what he been smokin' & he said " I am serious" & gave me a evil don't mess with a ole timer grin. I think I offended him when I called bluff.

 

[Bob4x4]

I used to cut a head gasket out of a beer can to raise the compression on my old 2 stroke bike too,but it wasn't the right way either:-laf :-laf

With our head gaskets you need to get the surfaces spotless so the coating can do it's job,acetone,brake cleaner what ever just no oily residue.



Bob

 

[Cummins724]

I used to cut a head gasket out of a beer can to raise the compression on my old 2 stroke bike too,but it wasn't the right way either:-laf :-laf

With our head gaskets you need to get the surfaces spotless so the coating can do it's job,acetone,brake cleaner what ever just no oily residue.



Bob

Yeah... . we all used to do the beer can trick!:-laf :-laf I just thought it sounded really dumb to coat a head gasket with hi-temp engine paint & wanted to catch some opinions. The way that Ole Timer looked at me when I laughed at him saying it..... I almost fell over. I was told by my Dad years ago to listen to wisdom that comes from age. I'm getting older & I don't feel any smarter..... just keep forgetting what I use to know. :-laf

 

[Jim Fulmer]

I remember the painted head gasket trick too... ... ... from the 80's when I was in High School... ..... that's old!



Jim

 

[OT-OF-HERE!!]

Painted gasket trick

Yep, used to use it all the time, but used Copper Coat as some have indicated. I used it on head gaskets, intake/exhaust, carb etc etc. Works great and the gaskets just peal off if you tear it down for some reason.

Great sealing properties.

 

[Cummins724]

I remember the painted head gasket trick too... ... ... from the 80's when I was in High School... ..... that's old!



Jim

HIGH SCHOOL! I was still in diapers & I kinda missed that trick. :-laf Just kidding Jim! I knew someone had to hear about this trick cause I could just read it in the guys eyes that he was serious. I built alot of hot rods & somehow missed this trick somewhere along the line. Have you guys heard of Harry Sheehan?

 

[DTroy]

I remember the painted head gasket trick too... ... ... from the 80's when I was in High School... ..... that's old!



Jim

Heyyyyyyy now ... ... ... ... ... . I resemble that remark

 

[Bodie]

I used to paint my exhaust header gaskets too... you know about every 2weeks or so when I replaced the gaskets... .



I still cuss headers. #@$%! :-laf

 

[RHestand]

In the 60s and 70s I used to build and race British motorcycles. ( Triumphs, BSAs etc. )

Painting head gaskets was pretty much standard procedure, but also we were using solid copper gaskets and the mating surfaces were alum. (heads and barrels)

In those days I can't remember not painting them, but times have changed.

It worked for me.

Ray

 

[BIG C]

No, No, No dont use paint. Just use some of that liquid nails stuff. Thats the ticket. Works every time. :-laf

 

[Cummins724]

No, No, No dont use paint. Just use some of that liquid nails stuff. Thats the ticket. Works every time. :-laf

That is about how the paint idea sounded to me, but just had to hear more. :-laf :-laf

 

[Heavyweight]

Ever here of the story of the pro stock racer using JB weld on his cracked cylinder heads? I fixed a VW by JB welding the spark plug into the stripped out hole...

 

[Cummins724]

Ever here of the story of the pro stock racer using JB weld on his cracked cylinder heads? I fixed a VW by JB welding the spark plug into the stripped out hole...

I JB welded a cracked engine block on my Quad.