Best NON MHG gasket kit

[thelonerider]

Well, I just blew my Apex grafite head gasket (between Cyl #1&2 :cry: ) and I was looking for opinions on what non metal head gasket kit would members recommend. I was not impressed with the paper gaskets in the Apex kit, especially when it came to certain places like the TB and the ERG cooler. I can get a Toyota set for about $400 CND (Turbo set included) and then there is the Yonaka and Fel-Pro as well as Cometic for about $250CND which I have no experince with or even seen.
I don't want to go MHG as I don't want to pull my engine and get it prepped. The head should be still in good shape as I had it rebuilt about 30k km ago, and the engine did not overheat or anything.
Opinions are welcome on this topic.
Thanks.
Edmund

 

[Nick M]

Well, it blew due to conditions in the engine, not because it is defective. Well, that is a possibility. You have to check the head and block for straightness. This isn't an option. If it works, it was merely lucky to be flat.

I thought the Cometic is a MHG.

 

[s383mmber1]

I thought the Cometic is a MHG.

Correct.


OP: You have to ask yourself this question: Why did it blow? Probably not because of a head gasket defect, chances are. Nick is correct.

Example: You just blew a EFI fuse. Your solution: replace it. Did this solve the problem? Probably not, because it had to blow for a reason, and replacing it wont fix that problem.

 

[Supracentral]

Note: what follows is my brutally honest assessment. I'm not trying to insult you, or pick a fight. But it is how I see it.

I don't recommend any non metal head gasket for the Supra. Even if you are going to use a non metal HG, you should prep the motor.

You are going to spend more money in the long run half assing it like you are rather than doing it correctly. The problem here is not the gasket material, it's you.

This is part of the price of owning a Supra. If you can't cope with a MHG, there are other cars out there.

Just my $.02, ymmv.

 

[s383mmber1]

"The weak link in 99% of the MK3's are the owners" (or something like that)

- A very wise man


Do it right the first time.

 

[Supracentral]

A very wise man

Hey! :sarcasm:

 

[thelonerider]

OK, I guess I asked for it. but I didn't think you guys were going to be so brutal... lol...
When I blew the gasket, I had several other issues happen at the same time... The head bolts are ARP and they were at 75lbs torque setting. I was hearing some boost leak that I was trying to track down and it seemed on the intake side so that was going to be my winter project, but I never made to there as the BHG showed up. At the same time, my AFM temp sensor was an open circuit and due to no clips on the VSV Fuel Pressure Up to FPR vacuum hose, it was also popped off making the engine run rich or at full FP. Maybe that was the pst pst I was hearing on the intake side at idle. The head was prepped and the block was straight when I did the HG 30k ago.
I will know more once I pull the head, but I was asking about the quality of gaskets not what I should do with the car. So.. Lets try this again...
What experience has anyone had with the brands I listed above and would it be wisest to stick to the Toyota set for all the other gaskets that are needed when changing the HG? I found that the Toyota set were made of a metal type fiber for many of the gaskets compared to the blue paper in the Apex.
Once more, opinions are welcome...

 

[86_sports_1jz]

i used a cometic metal hg it worked really good, if you don't want a expensive metal hg i'd say get the cometic and you better run a metal hg to save yourself time and money. oo.... i don't know about anyone else but w/ my arp head bolts i torqued them down to like 90 or 95 ft-lbs

 

[doom26464]

toyota gasket worked the best for me. There full gasket kit held up fine and the stock headgasket took 14psi for a year and I pulled the engine this year and took it apart and the head gasket is still in mint shape.

 

[s383mmber1]

Warning: I don't suggest doing this.

I used a cometic mhg on my NA-T project. I had the head resurfaced. Not the block. I used 100+ razor blades and made the block as perfect as i possibly could have.

Been holding up FINE so far.

 

[thelonerider]

Just in case there is a misunderstanding... I am not asking about the HG but the kits or in other words... all the other gaskets that should be in the kit... Like I mentioned, the Toyota material differs from the Apex like metal fiber vs paper... Are the other brands like Fel-Pro, Yonaka and Cometic paper or some other type of material for the OTHER GASKETS, NOT THE HEAD GASKET???
Experinces or info welcome.
I guess I can write the companies, but its the weekend... and I don't trust them to actually know what they are talking about... I got one company who just kept sending me links to the ebay sale as explaination...

 

[s383mmber1]

A bottle of toyota's FIPG for like 5 bucks is all of my gaskets. I love that stuff.

 

[IJ.]

MDS Kits made in Japan by KP products and use Viton seals instead of rubber and have a Stone HG (OEM Toyota supplier) good quality and affordable.

 

[billspreston01]

I've been rockin a full toyota gasket set for a couple years now with no problems (including hg)

 

[zachm611]

I highly do not recommend you doing what i did, but i have an engine build going on now. so i did not really care too much about the engine in the car. but i could tell you my head DEFINITELY needed to be resurfaced there was gouges in it and everything...(looked like P/O milled it with a belt sander lmao) but i just wanted to drive it around for a while til i finish the build (which is soon) but so far ive managed to run a felpro hg at 10psi for about 4 months with no problems at all. personally i think your block should be fine for a non mhg but you really should get the head resurfaced or atleast checked out by a machine shop.

 

[trydrew]

I just spent ~$300 US on just misc gaskets from Toyota (didn't need the whole set) and also a $170 Cometic MHG. I'm definitely not cutting corners (block and head were machined).
Quality wise, Toyota is you're safest bet. I thought it was rediculous a while back when I bought a "cheap" HG kit and the Egr gasket was paper thin. I thought damn this is thinner and more flimsy then the old, compressed, and torn up gasket I took off... Needless to say, I used very few pieces from that kit and bought and OEM HG.
Not sure about Fel-Pro kits, as I have heard mixed things about them.

 

[upgradedsupra]

"The weak link in 99% of the MK3's are the owners" (or something like that)

- A very wise man


Do it right the first time.

LOL very true but well said.

Duane

 

[KMinAF]

When you disassembled the head did you notice if the head bolts felt like they weren't as tight as when you assembled it originally? I ask this because my son just blew the HG on his (due to a failed heater control valve that dumped all the coolant out) 3 months after I had replaced it. I had originally torqued the head bolts to 75lbs but when I removed them they did not feel that tight. I used a standard HG on his but on my engine I used a MHG. Is retorquing necessary on a standard HG? How about on a MHG?

 

[thelonerider]

When you disassembled the head did you notice if the head bolts felt like they weren't as tight as when you assembled it originally? I ask this because my son just blew the HG on his (due to a failed heater control valve that dumped all the coolant out) 3 months after I had replaced it. I had originally torqued the head bolts to 75lbs but when I removed them they did not feel that tight. I used a standard HG on his but on my engine I used a MHG. Is retorquing necessary on a standard HG? How about on a MHG?

I haven't got to that yet as I'm depressed that it broke so near the end of the season, and am missing out on the last week(s) of driving here...:cry:
Are you using the stock bolts as they are known to stretch and not hold the torque setting. I switched mine to ARP the first year I got the car and did the HG. Will let you know as things further progress (read: kick my butt into the garage and get that thing apart):biglaugh:

 

[Kai]

I found that the Eristic Gasket set i bought off eBay was actually pretty well stocked and decently priced. So far, no problems!

MHG maybe necessary for long term power goals, but if you just want to get a stocker running again, i dont see the problem with using a non-metal HG a long as you're holding it together with ARP's torqued to the correct spec.