After Shark said:Buy the best gaskets you can afford. Gasket technology has come a long way in the past 20 to 30 years.

Being SUPERB at buying the best I can afford, and then discovering its far more than I need and is infact a negative(racing headers on an L48 anyone?) I'd like to ask what is actually considered "the best." I may not be able to afford them, but with the Vette I'm trying to make sure its done right the first time rather than several times half right.

Scot

Well a good example would be that many of the gasket manufacturers now offer a oil piece oil pan gasket. Eliminates the need to add liquid gasket where the rail gasket and the front and rear gaskets come together.

Also many of the gasket manufacturers are now using a MLS also known as a multi-layer system. These gaskets offer a more positive seal through better clamping distribution with less likely hood of the gasket blowing out on the heads, headers, and intakes. There are also valve cover gaskets out now that have bushings at the valve cover bolts so its impossible to over clamp the the gaskets at the bolts and causing uneven distribution closing forces across the rest of the gasket. MLS gaskets are also known to resist shrinkage because of the layered system.

By me saying best you can afford. Cork gaskets for valve covers may run you 8 to 12 dollars on average. The new style run anywhere depending on brand 25 to 60. Most of them can be reused. So in the long run it may be worth paying more.

Hope this clarifies somethings and doesn't confuse the matter.

If anybody else wants to add anything feel free.

Rol Gasket makes a very good valve cover gasket. I don't think the one-piece pan gasket will fit a shark small block. Not sure when they made the change but think it was in mid-80s. Probably when they went to one-piece rear main seal. Ken Styer might know.

Marc

Davii and, of course, Ken hit it on the head. The synthetic oil is doing its job, and removing the sludge, and old oil buildup in your motor. The problem is, that this crud was holding your old gaskets together. Now, remove the crud, and expose a hole. Synthetic oil, and cork gaskets just don't mix.

You need to do a gasket overhaul on your baby, no way around it. Hey, while you're in there, how about a new cam, and roller rockers, and a new intake, might as well change the carb, and put headers on her...sorry, just the speed demons taking over again.

Good luck.

I like the way you think gribble... already have the headers and the carb...gonna go for a edelbrock performer intake and a little bit of a hotter cam next....well after the gasket change..... since I am a novice on changing all of the but more than willing to jump in and teach myself, is it a hard project to change all the engine gaskets and any tips, tricks, or special tools I need to know about...???

It was somewhere in the 80s they changed design, sorry I don't recall exactly what year. Early to mid it think.
My favorite is FelPro gaskets. They have three levels, okay (ecno version), standard (which are the best without the new technology), and the the newest multilayer top notch gasket. After 30 years I have never seen anyone beat FelPro. With the exception of a few special high performance applications, it's all I use. Just my 2 cents.

Now about Gribble's upgrade stuff..Hmmmm....Faster....YES YES

Ken Styer

|UPDATED|3/24/2004 10:12:19 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Ok Ken, if you're a big fan of FelPro I'm sold. No offence 73shark. The question remains...if I replace all the gaskets on my 75 L48 with the most expensive FelPro gaskets, are they going to be "right" for the motor or are they going to be overkill?

Scot

I'm not sure what you mean by "right", unless you mean originality. Unless you can repair the "original" gaskets that came on the car, nothing you can put on it will be "right".A replacement is a replacement, never the original. Just put the higher quality parts in and enjoy the ride.
I'm not trying to be a wise a**, sometimes the quest for correct goes a bit too far though. Look at it like this, brand new car, slow leak in the right rear tire, put a plug in the original tire and the car is no longer original, not to mention the St. Louis air you just let get away.

daveb12, well said. If you want the best for the car, it's right. If you want original, it's going to leak oil. Replaced is replaced. Use the good stuff.

Ken Styer

Yeah, I'm looking for the best to do the job, heck with originality, at 123k miles its been there done that so long ago nobody I know remembers it!

What I meant by "right" was what was needed without doing it. I blew up the old headers on the car and had to replace them, I don't know enough about motors and always have been a "bigger is better...right?" Didn't ask enough questions and got screwed, to their credit Jet-Hot still had the best price for what I got and they gave an incredible product. But no stock L-48 needs Hooker Super Competition Headers with the biggest size avail. The guy assumed I knew what I was talking about and never asked what motor/app I was putting it into. So I've lost torque like I can't believe and people still laugh at me when they find out what headers I'm running to get that sound(very throaty and subtle like nothing I've ever heard). Anyway, I'm trying to avoid the "more expensive is better because I'm uneducated" problem of the past, by asking questions and in the future by taking classes. So I really just wanted to make sure that the expensive gaskets weren't overdoing it for the motor.

Scot