Ah I see. Thanks for all the work Jan!

 

The first set he sent awhile ago are going to be tested here soon, Hopefully have them in the engine this week.

 

U should get the gaskets this week.

 

So is there any updates or anything new on the head gaskets?

 

There are two engines running them right now, Smoggie- Justin´s truck, he has the regular thickness one and Mark Strock truck, which has the decompression gaskets. So far everything fine, there are going to be two more engines running the decompression gaskets soon.
From what I heard Justin is now full time RD performance but have not heard from him quite a while, probably busy with other projects. He is not here as often as he used to be, he was in charge of testing the gaskets and suplying them. I can not beat the hell out of my engine as there are no parts in Europe, plus I do not have acess to the DB4 pump and huge turbo.
I will put them to my engine over the winter, while I pull the engine out and refreshen or overhaul it.

 

Just read this thread ... Awesome!

Jan, Thank you ...

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

I am one of the guys who will be running the decompression gaskets. I have a 150cc DB4 and R&D stage 2 turbo so we will see what they do at that power level. Unfortunately my engine will not be running any time soon. My progress is slow and my machinist told me this week that my 7.3 block is not useable... so I am back to square one finding an engine to build.

Justin said the gaskets measure .110" and do not appreciably compress when installed. By comparison Fel-pro gaskets measure .073" which I assume is un-installed and uncompressed. Here are the gaskets going into Mark's 6.9.

 

Thanks Romel77 I appreciate all the work you and R&D have put in this project... I hope I have the money to utilize the head gaskets.
FordF834 that engine picture is sweet.

 

Two more sets of the decompression gaskets

 

Is that first gasket coming apart in the corner?

Also... I'm guessing that these gaskets need RTV on both? sides when installing them? (Vs the felpro/victor reinz which don't need it)

 

The only thing that holds the layers together is the metal inserts ... Fire rings in this case.

Personally, I wouldn't use any RTV on a head gasket ...
If you have a bad surface, fix it!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

Jan tells me his gaskets need spray copper sealer on them because the mating surfaces are steel, not gasket material. You would not want to use spray copper on regular gaskets. I am only guessing, but I think the RTV in the pic is for sealing the port in the water jacket of the cylinder head that likes to leak on the 6.9's.

 

The gaskets are multiple layer, only firerings holding them together. outer layer is steel, the middle layear is steel, sealing material in between. Justin said there is copper spray on these types of gasket, that is why they are copper like on the picture above the gaskets. The idea is to support the firerings as possible, plus even if the head is slightly lifted, the sealing compound is not burned away as wraped in steel. The firerings are stainless steel and way bigger than the oem gaskets.

 

I do not think there is any rtv on the picture, just the copper spray pushed away by mating surfaces, Justin said they gave the gaskets like 4 layers of copper spray.

 

As they are uncoated steel gaskets, Copper coat is required, same with copper gaskets in an oil/water block.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~