Head gasket advise....

[Drock]

M1028, 6.2, with a banks turbo. I just bought a brand new set of heads off Ebay. It's my understanding that they are 6.5 heads? With the new Canadian castings that aren't supposed to crack? Anyway, what head gaskets should I use with these? 6.2 or 6.5? is there a difference?

 

[richingalveston]

no difference in head gasket. just brand and thickness.

never heard of candadian castings. There is navastar castings and Dalton castings, old gm castings and some china crap out there.

Navastar is what you want if they are used. If you buy new from G.E.P. they will be a Dalton cast unless you get the last of the navastar castings they have in stock.
I just went through all this buying my new GEP engine thinking I was getting a navastar and instead I got a Dalton. I have had one issue already with the Dalton heads hopefully I have no more. I am still building the motor so it is not running yet to give any more info.

After all the research I have done, nothing about Canadian castings.

I have put the head gaskets side by side and no difference. There is big difference in quality and thickenss depending on brand. with the turbo and 6.5 heads. I would go with the thickest gasket you can get.

my 2 cents, hope they work for you.

Rich

 

[Drock]

Is this normal?

 

[cucvrus]

No. They are removable. They are also replaceable pre-chambers. Have the heads checked over at a competent automotive machine shop. They can reinstall or replace the pre-chambers. I have my heads disaaasembled and gone over entirely every time I remove them. Any engines I work on. Waste of time and material to assume all is well with used head/s. Have a great day.

 

[Drock]

Thought I'd do an update on this. I got the new heads, studs, and glow plugs installed. And the truck runs BEAUTIFUL!! starts without touching the throttle, runs quieter, and smoother then it ever did before! Temp seems to run a little warmer then it used to, around 200° to 210° now. But from what I've read that's normal operating temp. I had a few obstacles to overcome during the installation that are note worthy.... (#1) On the drivers side I had to bend the flange on the brake assembly firewall brace. In order to remove & install 1 head bolt/stud, and get a torque wrench on it.... (#2) All the holes in the coolant crossover tube & intake manifold needed to be elongated in order to line up. I'm assuming this was because I used the thinner 6.2 head gaskets vs the thicker 6.5 versions?... (#3) the fuel lines all fit easily enough, but now sit taller over the valve covers, thus they don't bolt into the original braces anymore. If it causes any issue I'll just fab something up, but it seems fine like it is?

 

[richingalveston]

that is somewhat strange the holes did not line up and the fuel lines are taller. the heads must be shorter since the ip is not mounted to the heads, the change in distances must be in the heads.

curious to what heads you got. what are the cast markings? gaskets should not make enough difference to have to elongate holes..
glad they are working,

I would recommend getting them tied down. apparently loose lines can crack faster.

Rich

 

[Drock]

that is somewhat strange the holes did not line up and the fuel lines are taller. the heads must be shorter since the ip is not mounted to the heads, the change in distances must be in the heads.

curious to what heads you got. what are the cast markings? gaskets should not make enough difference to have to elongate holes..
glad they are working,

I would recommend getting them tied down. apparently loose lines can crack faster.

Rich

Well the fuel line thing is normal do to the do to the injector angle differance between the 6.2 & 6.5 castings. So that I get, the holes not lining up was suprising though. They were all closer to the center of the engine. Which is why I figured the thinner gaskets ?