Turbocharged 2.3 liter Ford with Esslinger aluminum head, and ARP head studs.
Block and head were carefully surfaced to the RA specs that the Cometic gasket calls for.

Very first trip to the dyno, had a conservitive tune up in it and kept it on the safe side of things as far as ignition timing and A/F ratio goes.
Start "sneaking up" on it with progressive power pulls.....eveything was still good as far as A/F ratio and ign., but start hitting 23 PSI and it starts lifting the head gasket

.
As a precaution, I went in and gave another 10ft.lbs on each head stud.
Test again, everything working good until we hit 23 PSI again, and it starts lifting the head gasket.
Let it cool a little, and give it another try.....it finally blows big time at only 20 PSI

My turbo is capable of 31 PSI.
Take head off and see the gasket pushed out where the damage is.
Not taking anymore chances with MLS style gaskets....now its getting O-ringed with an SCE copper gasket.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: TorinoStyle2 on 4/4/06 7:35am ]</font>

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ScatStroker

· #7 · Apr 3, 2006

Torino,

If the gasket is lifting how is it the gasket's fault? If the fastner, fastner configuration and head design aren't going to keep a constant force on the gasket then it doesn't matter what gasket is being used, if it lifts it's going to fail.

With high boost it's a known concern, there are different ways to address it but blaming the gasket for the head lifting isn't really fair to the gasket.

$.02

Brian

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TorinoStyle2

· #8 · Apr 4, 2006

Yes, I understand what you're saying. But when I consider that a regular Fel Pro "blue" gasket has taken repeated blasts at 29 PSI without even a hiccup, it becomes clear (to me at least) that the pressure is getting between the layers of the MLS type gasket.
The O-ring and copper deal will take anything that I can throw at it.

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dennis112

· #9 · Apr 4, 2006

On 2006-04-03 19:42, TorinoStyle2 wrote:
Yes, I understand what you're saying. But when I consider that a regular Fel Pro "blue" gasket has taken repeated blasts at 29 PSI without even a hiccup, it becomes clear (to me at least) that the pressure is getting between the layers of the MLS type gasket.
The O-ring and copper deal will take anything that I can throw at it.

My neighbor has a very similiar competitive 2.3 ([email protected]) He uses a fire ring and the MLS gaskets in his blocks with reasonable success.

He still has to retighten the ARP studs often, but he remains competitive year after with only a winter teardown. Ever so slight signs of head lift this year, but it was lifting from all the boost. Ran his best the last race of the season.

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