{"id":87548,"date":"2022-09-28T19:15:46","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T02:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=87548"},"modified":"2022-09-28T19:15:46","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T02:15:46","slug":"fel-pro-leads-engine-gasket-innovation-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/fel-pro-leads-engine-gasket-innovation-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"jetpack-slideshow-noscript robots-nocontent\">This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p><div id=\"gallery-87548-1-slideshow\" class=\"jetpack-slideshow-window jetpack-slideshow jetpack-slideshow-black\" data-trans=\"fade\" data-autostart=\"1\" data-gallery=\"[{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/FP1-min-scaled-e1664417708177.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;87550&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Click Here to Begin Slideshow\\n\\nWhen you browse the internet for car parts \\u2013 high performance or otherwise, you\\u2019ll soon discover the choice for many parts proves pretty much cosmic. Gaskets are no different.\\u00a0 And in today\\u2019s world, gasket technology has evolved rapidly.\\u00a0 Consider the head gasket:\\u00a0 Where many older engines were manufactured with as many as a half dozen cylinder head bolts surrounding each cylinder, today\\u2019s engines are often built with a maximum of four. That means the head gasket has a larger responsibility.\\u00a0 Much of that technology has filtered down toward the high performance community.\\u00a0 Technology for many gaskets is a lot different than it was even a few short years ago. Some of this resulted in new types of gaskets (MLS or \\u201cMulti Layered Steel\\u201d is one example).\\u00a0 But in other cases, it allowed companies to refine existing gaskets.\\u00a0 Some of what you see below might prove to be a wee bit surprising.\\u00a0 In addition, some of the practices used to install gaskets have changed.\\u00a0 Let\\u2019s start at the beginning:\\n\\nWhen Chevrolet first started using aluminum heads on production cars (they were one of the first in North America), a need developed for some form of composition head gasket. Standard equipment on those early L88\\u2019s and L89\\u2019s was a composition gasket (typically made by Victor).\\u00a0 Mostly, they started as a metal core with a pliable material such as asbestos applied to both sides. As you can well imagine, Asbestos wasn\\u2019t a hot ticket. Still, the concept for a gasket remained the same: Make use of a material that can easily conform to block and cylinder head imperfections and at the same time incorporate a flange or \\u201cfire ring\\u201d around the cylinder bore opening.\\u00a0 This was done to contain cylinder pressure. A sealant was (is) often applied around the coolant and oil passages within the gasket.\\u00a0 In the end, the fire ring or flange was (and still is) a separate piece that locked in position within the gasket.\\n\\nA big problem with the old one-piece steel head gaskets or the early composition gaskets was the fact they mandated a hot retorque (where the engine was cycled to operating temperature and then the head bolts or studs were retorqued).\\u00a0 It doesn\\u2019t seem like such a big job until you realize things like the headers had to be removed for many applications, simply because they covered up the bottom row of head bolts. In some cases, just removing the headers can prove to be nightmarish.\\u00a0 Plus, other components in the engine compartment simply get in the way, making the torqueing process challenging.\\u00a0\\n\\nWhat ended all of this was Fel-Pro\\u2019s \\u201cPermaTorque\\u00ae\\u201d innovation.\\u00a0 Fel-Pro came up with a head gasket line up that not only sealed perfectly, it also eliminated the need for a retorque of any sort.\\n\\nThose gaskets became the most popular race-winning head gaskets on the planet (and they still are today, hence the information presented here).\\u00a0 According to Fel-Pro:\\u00a0 \\u201cThe key difference between traditional passenger car head gaskets and our Fel-Pro Performance head gaskets is the wire ring combustion seal. Inserted within a stainless steel armor surrounding each cylinder, the wire ring design provides highly concentrated sealing around the combustion chamber. The pre-flattened wire ring raises combustion sealing force to roughly three times that of standard head gaskets. In addition, the armor is 321 series stainless steel, and can withstand combustion pressures ranging from 1500 to 3000 psi. Gaskets are available with either pre-flattened copper or steel wire rings.\\u201d\\n\\n\\u201cThese head gaskets include a rubber\\\/fiber facing material reinforced with KEVLAR\\u00ae fiber, laminated to a solid steel core to resist torque loss and seal fluids. Conformable anti-stick coatings are used on the gasket body to help seal minor surface irregularities. Besides aiding in micro-sealing, these surface coatings make gasket removal and clean-up easier. This is a special advantage in performance applications, where engine changes and maintenance require frequent disassembly.\\u201d\\n\\n\\u201cFel-Pro racing head gaskets are installed dry \\u2013 sealers are neither required nor recommended. These gaskets have performed flawlessly in engines at well over 1000 horsepower. They are an ideal solution for most street performance and race engines, and are available \\u201coff the shelf\\u201d everywhere at a very reasonable cost.\\u201d\\n\\nThere\\u2019s another big advantage too:\\u00a0 It\\u2019s the sheer number of thicknesses and bore sizes available from Fel-Pro.\\u00a0 Fel-Pro notes that by using a thicker-than-stock head gasket, it can prove to be a low cost solution to reduce the compression ratio or to increase piston to valve clearance or to piston to head clearance. Of course, they\\u2019re right.\\n\\nBefore going any further, let\\u2019s take a short detour here and consider compressed gasket thickness:\\u00a0 Compressed thickness of a gasket is the measurement of the gasket once it has been installed and torqued (compressed) to specification.\\u00a0 It is not the thickness of the gasket as you receive it from the manufacturer.\\n\\nWhen it comes to compression ratio, compressed gasket thickness has an effect and so does the cylinder head gasket bore.\\u00a0 The bigger the compressed thickness of the head gasket, the lower the compression ratio.\\u00a0 The bigger the gasket bore, the lower the compression ratio.\\u00a0 There are limits you can get away with. For example, the piston to deck clearance must be established for a given application is operate properly (you really don\\u2019t want to be whacking the cylinder head with the piston), and at the same time, the need for quench in many engine combinations must also be taken into consideration.\\u00a0\\u00a0 If the gasket bore is too small for the cylinder bore, it won\\u2019t work. But if the bore is too large, you\\u2019re throwing away compression.\\u00a0\\n\\nIn an upcoming issue, we\\u2019ll complete our look at Fel-Pro head gasket technology. What we\\u2019ll delve into is how to properly install them. Additionally, we\\u2019ll also explore other gaskets in the mix, beginning with examples for intake manifolds. In the meantime, check out the accompanying photos:\\n\\nClick Here to Begin Slideshow&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/FP2-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;87551&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/FP3-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;87552&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/FP4-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;87553&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/FP5-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;87554&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Fel-Pro Leads Engine Gasket Innovation Part 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class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>When you browse the internet for car parts \u2013 high performance or otherwise, you\u2019ll soon discover the choice for many parts proves pretty much cosmic<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":87550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5008,17,11,3470,4879],"tags":[9287,5263,281,41,1632,4764,321],"class_list":["post-87548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engine","category-guest-column","category-how-tos","category-news","category-slideshow","tag-gaskets","tag-general-engine","tag-how-to","tag-news","tag-racing","tag-tech","tag-wayne-scraba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/FP1-min-scaled-e1664417708177.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-mM4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87556,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87548\/revisions\/87556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}