Head Gasket 101

[cummins king]

Hi, so i blew my HG, i have been calling around to find out what to do about it, and now i'm confused.

On shop wanted 1400$ to fire ring the head and 525$ for some special ATS head gasket.

And another shop wants 300$ to put orings in the head and then i use a stock cummins HG.

Im never heard of the first way, but how would you guys recommend i do it.
Whats tried and Proven?

[Begle1]

They're both tried and proven, but the kits with the custom firerings seem to be more difficult to "do right", but when "done right" they seem to be for moderately higher levels.

"Doing right" arguably includes cutting the block and the head to fit the firering, but some may "do it right" by just cutting the block or the head.

Van Haisley modified head gasket/ firering kits were only a couple hundred dollars a while ago, and the couple machine shops that I had give me quotes only wanted around $400 for either the firerings or the O-rings.

But the shop has had my head for nearly a year now doing who knows what with it, so I who knows. At this point I should've just bought an O-ringed, ported and sprung head straight from Piers, because the shop down here has no freaking clue how to do it.

Apparently they decided after the first couple months to use a CNC machine, then they spent the next couple months to program the CNC machine, then they decided that they needed a bigger CNC machine, so they shipped it to Bubba's place, and now Bubba's been holding it for a couple months...

So I wouldn't gamble on a fireringing job from anybody that hasn't done them before, and for some reason some shops are seriously challanged to do even an O-ringing.

[CumminsPride]

For that much $ you could get the head from piers. Go with a good set of o-rings and a .020 over HG and some ARP's. You won't have any troubles as long as you torque it correctly.

Studs, orings, gasket and machining should all get done for around 1200. That's you removing and reinstalling the head. That was a quote from Haisleys.

[cummins king]

Okay that's good info

Does anybody know what a complete head from piers is worth?

And will Oringed head hold 90+ pounds of boost?

I probaly will only get the exaust side ported and get the valves cut and install the 60 pound springs.and there's another local shop who has done a good job for a budy so they sound like a good choice.

As for the thickness of head gasket should I get the .20 HG and rings

[CumminsPride]

If you make 90+ psi I would be surprised....but anyhow, the o-rings probably won't live long at 90 psi continuously. For that app you would want the block and head cut and milled for fire rings. I know they will hold that psi in bursts but I doubt they would hold it for 30 seconds at a time. I would run the thickest gasket you can, as for the o-rings, they just compress the ring on the HG. It's just a wire o-ring.

[seeker1056]

go see Mr Hot Rod Diesel - he quoted me $350? including the fire ring headgasket last summer when i was over gettin sum exhaust pieces.

It is more if he has to hot tank n plane the head for you

[mprmn08]

now i've heard that with firerings you need to go through and retorque your studs every so often and orings you set it and forget it. i also heard that orings are good for up to about 110 psi and firerings are good for about 130 or so. so that being said i would say orings are good for you being a street driven truck so you dont have to retorque them all the time. just my opinion though so you might wanna check for yourself.