Alright I was curious if there are thinner head gaskets (sorry if that's not the technical term) for our car to increase the compression ratio a bit. If yes, are they worth it? Are they reliable? Can the ECU handle the extra compression? Sorry if this is a stupid idea/question but I've heard spoon makes a thinner head gasket for the S2000 and it ups the compression ratio by .1 or so. I don't know what kind of power gains they get with this mod or if there are any reliability issues but it was just a thought...

 

no....its a pain in the a$$ to just change a head gasket unless u r doin a build...

 

Well I guess that was easy. Thanks for the help, it's a little sad to hear but what can I say. I guess Nissan did pretty well in making the HR motor because I can't think of any simple bolt ons that produce real gains (besides test pipes/HFCs and light weight flywheel)...

 

Go to Performance Factory and have them put an HKS TT on your car.

 

Haha, that's not a "simple" bolt on... I was just thinking that it would be nice to get 20 - 30 HP from an intake, and full exhaust like some cars...

 

This has come up before. No, a gasket isn't going to help....However, if you're thinking of changing the gasket you may think about adding a plenum spacer to even the cylinders.

The "theory" behind after market gaskets has to do with compression ratios and they may help if you're boosted; but only to avoid a possible failure of the stock gasket. The stock gasket is three layer. HKS has four layer stopper type and it's .7mm thick. There are also MLS gaskets with translates to multi layer steel. Cometic makes one.

If you google after market head gaskets you'll find a site that has a parts database that describes some of the theories.

 

Thanks for the info, I thought a plenum spacer only produced gains on cars without the HR motor... From what I understand the duel intake system the HR motor has works really well.

 

1. Correct. Only plenum spacers for the VQ35DE

2. Incorrect. Most have shown to gain nothing.

Your best bet is to get test pipes, dual exhaust and a flash from technosquare.

 

i believe he meant the stock intake system works really well, not referring to aftermarket.

 

Cometic will make any thickness head gasket you want. they specialize in custom gaskets. of ocurse, you can't vary too much from stock as the front timing cover won't fit right ( mounitng hole misalignment) and the tensioners will have to take up some more slack in the timing chain, etc.