Head Gasket kit

[jacksonh18]

What is the best set of gaskets to get for my heads? Felpro?? or is there a better brand.

Also, when putting on the valve cover on an OHV 4L which hole are you supposed to fill with silicone to keep the valve cover from leaking?

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

I'd recommend the FelPro SD (Severe Duty) headgaskets.
They are a few dollars more than the regular duty, but
are well worth it. Your local auto parts store may have to
order them, but RockAuto does stock the SD.

Don't know about the VC bolt hole...???

 

[lobo411]

I'd recommend the FelPro SD (Severe Duty) headgaskets.
They are a few dollars more than the regular duty, but
are well worth it. Your local auto parts store may have to
order them, but RockAuto does stock the SD.

Don't know about the VC bolt hole...???

Maybe he means the way some people like to coat the VC bolts in RTV to get a good seal/make sure they don't work their way out. Or maybe he means the RTV at the junction between the head and the lower intake manifold.

Either way, I say just follow the directions and don't get creative.

 

[jacksonh18]

Rtv

The last time a mechanic did my heads he had to redo the rt bank valve cover 3 times to get it to stop leaking. The guy I just took my heads to said he remembers a bulletin about gooping RTV in one of the valve cover bolt holes when attaching it. I'm just not sure which one cause I cant remember where it was leaking.

I really don't want to redo the valve cover since there is so much crap in the way.

 

[lobo411]

The last time a mechanic did my heads he had to redo the rt bank valve cover 3 times to get it to stop leaking. The guy I just took my heads to said he remembers a bulletin about gooping RTV in one of the valve cover bolt holes when attaching it. I'm just not sure which one cause I cant remember where it was leaking.

I really don't want to redo the valve cover since there is so much crap in the way.

Well I'll say this: I had the old style Fel-Pro lower intake manifold (the one piece gasket) and old type valve cover gaskets (NOT the new Permadry type), and I never leaked a drop of oil in 10 years.

Then I changed my LIM and valve cover gaskets to the "new and improved" versions. For the LIM, this means a two-pieced affair using RTV to seal the valley rather than an actual gasket. For the valve covers, this means the Permadry gasket, which is supposed to be the best there is and is able to seal without RTV except at the block junctions.

I had a massive oil leak right off the bat, so I redid the job with new gaskets of the "new and improved" design. I managed to cut it down to a minor oil leak.

If I had it to do over again, I'd use the old design LIM gasket (Ford still uses it, I think) and the regular valve cover gasket that requires RTV all the way around (NOT the Permadry version).