stopper head gasket question

[whenmunkysfly]

ok so I have heard that the stopper is reusable, but not sure in this case.

it looks fine it only has a few thousand miles on it, but when i was taking my head off i noticed that almost all of the exhaust side nuts where just tight. i had to use little effort to break them loose.

the car was not running or starting because of what I'd have to say from the looks of it is a blown head gasket.

now the gasket looks fine could it be that it was just too loose to hold compression and the head gasket is still ok or do i need to replace it.

if i dont i can get my baby together and running with what i have but if not then I need to wait til after i pay some bills because $300 is too much for a new one right now.

I know I could just do a stock gasket or a cheaper then the stopper gasket bt I'd much rather do this once. and I in the end want a stopper gasket in my engine.

thanks for any help

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

Is the risk of re-using a gasket, and possibly having to re-do the rest of the head work worth the cost of a new gasket?

I'm not a gambler by nature.

Mind you, if you CAREFULLY inspect the gasket, and there is no visible damage, maybe it's okay.

 

[IJ.]

This might be useful

 

[Zumtizzle]

Is the risk of re-using a gasket, and possibly having to re-do the rest of the head work worth the cost of a new gasket?

I'm not a gambler by nature.

Mind you, if you CAREFULLY inspect the gasket, and there is no visible damage, maybe it's okay.

You sir have no clue on the cost of the Stopper?

 

[whenmunkysfly]

This might be useful

thanks I was looking for that

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

Yeah. I know what it costs. I also know what it costs if there is some damage from use, or, more likely from removal.

If the cost of a gasket, albeit an expensive gasket saves me the cost of having the head rebuilt, then to me, that's a good deal.

What might NOT be such a good deal is if the expense could be avoided. In that case, it's just a waste of money, however, as I said, I'm not a gambler by nature, and as such, I'd buy a new gasket. Probably, I wouldn't have bought the stopper gasket in the first place, seeing as how it's so expensive, and if I did, then I'd expect for it to STAY there for a good long time. This is the kind of thing that I would do for a built motor, where the head has been ported and polished, and the pistons, crank and rods are all aftermarket, and I'm pretty sure that it's going to be a LONG time before I have to do anything to that engine.

However, since I can't SEE the gasket, so I don't know if there's anything that could be damage on it, nor do I know the condition of the head and block that it was installed between, I can't say for sure.

If you were very careful when removing the gasket, and didn't have to pry or scrape to get it off, AND there is no visible signs of damage... But that's a lot of "ifs" to my thinking.

You asked for opinions. This is mine. It's a gamble of the cost of a gasket, vs. the cost of the gasket failing.

 

[whenmunkysfly]

Yeah. I know what it costs. I also know what it costs if there is some damage from use, or, more likely from removal.

If the cost of a gasket, albeit an expensive gasket saves me the cost of having the head rebuilt, then to me, that's a good deal.

What might NOT be such a good deal is if the expense could be avoided. In that case, it's just a waste of money, however, as I said, I'm not a gambler by nature, and as such, I'd buy a new gasket. Probably, I wouldn't have bought the stopper gasket in the first place, seeing as how it's so expensive, and if I did, then I'd expect for it to STAY there for a good long time. This is the kind of thing that I would do for a built motor, where the head has been ported and polished, and the pistons, crank and rods are all aftermarket, and I'm pretty sure that it's going to be a LONG time before I have to do anything to that engine.

However, since I can't SEE the gasket, so I don't know if there's anything that could be damage on it, nor do I know the condition of the head and block that it was installed between, I can't say for sure.

If you were very careful when removing the gasket, and didn't have to pry or scrape to get it off, AND there is no visible signs of damage... But that's a lot of "ifs" to my thinking.

You asked for opinions. This is mine. It's a gamble of the cost of a gasket, vs. the cost of the gasket failing.

your right there I didnt plan on pulling it off anytime soon. My engine is built and I was not planning on taking it off anytime in the near future but after a water system failure in the turbo water line and me forgetting to retorque the head(stupid stupid) I'm now sitting on the engine til I can get it together.

I am very mechanically inclined and I know how to do it right it was just me having too much fun with the car and making the mistake of thinking it was ok a rookie mistake. as I said the gasket and block look good and I'm using a new head on the engine when I put it back together anyway so I know it will be flat and to spec.

I'm gonna give it a go today see if I cant get her ready by the weekend(i got today off but not the rest of the week)

 

[IJ.]

WMF: Careful inspection around the dowel holes is important after it's cleaned of gloop, early stoppers had tighter holes and in use would develop cracks there.

Apart from that it's 100% safe to reuse if undamaged. (I reused my old one 4 times before retiring it and had to reuse the new one within 24 hours after the machine shop missed a bent valve)

 

[whenmunkysfly]

WMF: Careful inspection around the dowel holes is important after it's cleaned of gloop, early stoppers had tighter holes and in use would develop cracks there.

Apart from that it's 100% safe to reuse if undamaged. (I reused my old one 4 times before retiring it and had to reuse the new one within 24 hours after the machine shop missed a bent valve)

I went over the whole gasket for quite some time and saw nothing. I got her almost all together now and i went to start it just to see if she would fire and she wanted to start. I still need to put on all the intercooler piping and cooling system just thought I'd make sure we would want to fire before I got her all put back together.

 

[whenmunkysfly]

::w00t::

she runs and nicely bbl I'm gonna go drive now :evil2: