Head gasket recommendation?

[a_ahmed]

I am remaining NA and I doubt I'll go ka-t even though I want power but meh.

I may score some BC stage 2 cams for the KA... so I figure I might as well get on it and do a head gasket job as its leaking lol... and God knows when this thing had a headgasket job if EVER.

I really dont know whats out there quality/price-wise, etc...

[Bumnah]

AWWWW YEEEAAAHHHHHH a_ahmed is back!

I'd stick with an OEM head gasket myself if you're keep the motor stock "other than cams".

[a_ahmed]

How much do they run for $$$/best place to fetch for a good price? Im staying NA for sure just doing all possible boltons/cams/ecu tune... Maybe some machining on block and head and such... no turbo though..

This is not OEM but is this worth it:

http://www.frsport.com/Cometic-Multi-Layer-Steel-Head-Gasket-KA24DE-240SX-S13-S14-1991-98_p_3133.html

Anything else you'd recommend while Im at it?

[Bumnah]

Yeah replace the KA with an SR20.

[a_ahmed]

lol...

[Matt93SE]

OEM is more than plenty for an NA build. FelPro is also decent stuff.

buy from any of the discount OEM suppliers. southpoint nissan in Austin, mossy in CA, courtesy nissan, etc.

[KA240SX808]

OEM, they have been known to support 400+whp on KA-T's

Also fi something goes wrong with your tune, a HG is much cheaper to blow then spinning a bearing a breaking a piston/rod. think of it as cheap Insurance IMO...

[Def]

Don't go with a Cometic - I've heard tons of horror stories about those leaking. Stick with stock.

[flip240]

OEM or Fel-pro, both have proven to work very well, even boosted.

I personally have a cometic but you have to have the block machined properly or it will definitely leak, if you're just doing the HG in the garage, then that's out of the question; go OEM/Fel-pro which are composite.

Also, just to throw it out there, use 1stnissanparts.com, cheapest place I've found for most OEM things.. They are a dealer, so if the part isn't in stock, it's just like any other dealership. Unless you don't wanna wait, use FRsport.com, they keep **** in stock but charge due to that.

[Cory]

I also run a Cometic, but you will not need one. I ran a stock headgasket/bolts at 350whp for a while. I didn't blow it until I ran 17psi with misfire issues. I believe the cylinders loaded up with fuel and one of them pushed the gasket out.

My second OEM failure was related to overtorquing the ARP studs I had. I could tell because one whole side was blackened, but not deformed.

...

The most important thing to do is properly prep the block and head mating surface.

[Ruff Ryder 6]

I second Def, and that was the reason i have a Fel-Pro gasket on my rebuilt engine. It seems like MLS gaskets work great with certain engines and not so well with others. ex: great for Hondas, not so great for KA. I used to work with a machine shop and had numerous nissan engines come back with leaking issues even though the heads were surfaced and the blocks decked.

[a_ahmed]

Fair enough Ill go with the oem one Thanks for the info

[Cory]

Cometics work with KA's. I reused one four or five times before it started leaking. You have to spend quite a bit of time prepping the surfaces and I also use copper spray-a-gasket.

[flip240]

Cometics work with KA's. I reused one four or five times before it started leaking. You have to spend quite a bit of time prepping the surfaces and I also use copper spray-a-gasket.

+1 Worked perfectly fine for me and for lot's of people on ka-t.org Some shops have gotten the proper smoothness right, and others haven't.

[Cory]

I never had any of the heads I used decked... I think most of it is proper disassembly. I overheated my car quite a few times when I pushed my first headgasket. I installed another stocker and overheated it a few times too. I then installed a cometic, broke one of my ARP studs, and decided to just reuse some stock bolts I had laying around. I drove that car to Virginia in Nov 2006, did a few nights of race fuel at 414whp, drove back to Florida for Christmas and did the runs for the Vice of Bad Folks IMV films video, dynoed the car at 419whp, drove back to Virginia and daily drove the car at 350whp for five months or so, and then put my T04R setup on and drove that until it broke in Sept 2007 from a tuning error.

I have used one other Cometic, and that was after I reused my original 4 or 5 times. They work, even with a stock head. You just have to prep well.