That is some good reading, learn something new everyday here.

 

We have built one 606WHP 350Z and during the build up we Had no HKS gasket in stock and HKS where back order on this item for about 3 weeks. So we decide to use the standard Metal gasket with the L19. we finished the car and took it to the Dyno and ran it on 13 Psi on 91 Pump gas and 503 WHP was no problem with HKS F-CON V Pro. then we then blended 5 Liters of C16 with 15 Liters of 91 Pump Gas and got it to 606WHP at 18 Psi. it took us about five runs to go from the 500 to the 600 range and during all these runs the car showed no signs of head gasket leack. we then took the car for street tunning and run it on 13 Psi couple of times with no problems. But to be fare we only tried it on the 18 Psi on the street for once due to traction problem and the fact that the owner of the car is more than happy with the car at 13 Psi.

PS:Please, i am not trying to prove any thing here i just thought to share our experience. and if there is any failure in the stock head gasket i will make sure to report it.

Husam
MC-Performance

 

Thanks for the feedback... Anyone else out there? I have heard that VRT was using OEM head gaskets also...

 

you are extremely adamant about using stock headgaskets

 

Not really, just don't see the point in throwing parts at an engine that are not needed... If you think about it you could go on and on about its not worth the risk for parts... Rear cyl cooling mod, eagle vs. pauter rods, head strengthening mod, extreme duty pistons, etc... problem is you could keep doing that and you have added another $1000+ to your engine build!

There are things that are worth it and things that are not.... I am just trying to determine with all of your help what is and isnt worth the added costs in building a 600hp engine.

 

For my engine i used arias ed pistions and eagle rods. 1/2" studs, and hks gaskets. To me its a little safer after all the stuff i read about head lift and gaskets blowing out. I do not want to open my motor again. I did not do the rear cooling mod. The only way i will do it is if the car heats up when i turbo it. I doubt it will though.

 

i understand your perspective, i definatly know how things can snowball into mega bucks being tossed.

ill throw in one more comment on this issue. the hks headgaskets employ that stopper ring. its not quite the same as o-ringing the block with or without a reciever groove, but its the next best thing. So think of it as more then just getting a high quality head gasket, think of it as having that additional extra component that the other headgaskets dont have. Without that stopper ring, I dont know if I would bother saying the headgaskets are a whole lot different. The question is it worth it to pay a couple hundred more bucks for those stopper rings - if you ask me, it very much is... cause your getting more then just a headgasket, your getting a whole new feature.