I have found a source for premium quality head gaskets for the VQ35DE engine. They can manufacture these gaskets too any thickness for boosted applications. They are a copper gasket but they have a self sealing feature that makes it applicable to non-race motors. The company is SCE. I spoke with Bill at SCE who is the technical developer for the gasket program. In the past he had a large interest from Saturn owners on one of their forums who required gaskets for boost applications. He received enough interest to pre-sell 50 gaskets and absorbed the engineering costs himself, but more importantly, he was shown that there was enough interest to make the gaskets. I am sure that if enough VQ35 owners called him and expressed interest then he would do it. Prices for the kits he estimated would be between $90-140. Website is www.scegaskets.com

 

a headgasket just isn't enough. for a serious application, you probably want to drop the engine to 8.5:1 CR or so, which is nearly two full points.. a headgasket simply isn't the right application for this situation. This also doesn't solve the issue of the connecting rods being one of the weak links.

To put it simply, there is no "cheap" way of making the VQ strong enough for serious boost. To do it the right way, it takes a serious investment.

however.. for people building up a motor, this does look like a good solution for a stronger headgasket of stock thickness.

good find.

 

What would he charge for just 1 being made? I doubt we can get 50 people interested.

Azrael is right, there is no cheap way of making the VQ strong enough for serious boost, just ask my wallet lol.

 

The reason I brought it up is that it is a good way to help get the compression into the 9's without a ton of expense.A lot of guys just want the bolt-on kit and can't afford or don't want to do the full internals. For the number of FI kits entering the market it could be a good alternative that may make the difference between saving an engine or blowing it up with tuning that is slightly off. We know how many guys have cratered with the ATI and bad tuning. Bill thought that to do a one off gasket set would be $400-500 (engineering costs included), but he would need a cylinder head, a block, and a stock gasket.