(Best) copper head gasket and offenhauser aluminum heads

[Lhead]

I have 53 merc flathead v8 with offenhauser aluminum heads. I ran into overheat]ing only on passenger side Sludge and and grit blocked at rear water jacket cavity. Checked gasket small hole in gasket does not line up with water jacket in rear of head. Very small hole in gasket is misaligned with cavity in head . Whats with the tiny holes inthe gasket . Seems highly restrictive to coolant flow. Thanks

[mercman from oz]

Best head gasket for Offenhauser aluminium heads ? Lhead

[aussie merc]

my take dont use copper with alloy heads. These days gaskets are a lot better than they were good quality composite or graphite work well without the threat of electrolysis when a quality coolant is used . they size of the holes are used to regulate water flow so make sure you have them the right way round

[pistonbroke]

Yup, what aussei said. The smaller holes should be at the front. This forces the water to flow evenly through the whole engine. Other wise it would just take the path of least resistance, in through the pumps straight up and out the water necks leaving the back of the engine to over heat. Copper head gaskets ,iron block, aluminum heads. Now add water and an electrical charge and you have a battery( IE mass corrosion ) ,not good. Tim

[Kube]

Aussie Merc has given you great advice. Pistonbroke backed that up. Please, do yourself a favor and listen to these guys.

That small hole in the gasket was a design change that I believe happened right around 1946. Ford figured out that if the coolant was slowed down in that rear hole, the engine cooled better.

[Ronnieroadster]

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The latter flathead Ford 8BA heads were redesigned to flow more water out of the rear of the block not less than the front. The water holes in the gaskets shown by the original poster are defeating this improved flow design.

Any head gasket that has those small restrictive holes allow the coolant to become super heated by the exhaust ports. Also those tiny holes always plug up quickly thus reducing flow making things even worse.

A thermostat is what controls water flow not tiny holes located in the wrong areas in a head gasket.

Using copper head gaskets allow much better heat transfer between surfaces and when installed correctly with the proper coolant flow work perfectly fine in all application's.

All of the above works perfectly in every Ford flathead engine I have built both stock and modified.

Ronnieroadster

[Lhead]

Originally Posted by Ronnieroadster

The latter flathead Ford 8BA heads were redesigned to flow more water out of the rear of the block not less than the front. The water holes in the gaskets shown by the original poster are defeating this improved flow design.

Any head gasket that has those small restrictive holes allow the coolant to become super heated by the exhaust ports. Also those tiny holes always plug up quickly thus reducing flow making things even worse.

A thermostat is what controls water flow not tiny holes located in the wrong areas in a head gasket.

Using copper head gaskets allow much better heat transfer between surfaces and when installed correctly with the proper coolant flow work perfectly fine in all application's.

All of the above works perfectly in every Ford flathead engine I have built both stock and modified.

Ronnieroadster

Do you have any advice on what gasket to use . Would be much appreciated.

[Tim Ayers]

Ronnie built my motor and has advised me on many other flathead chores since. He and I spoke about the coolant holes issue with head gaskets. He does and has advised to use copper AND to open up those holes in the gasket to get the proper flow. Why gasket companies continue to make gaskets (both 59AB & 8BA-series) with these tiny holes is beyond me. Makes no sense.

[Bored&Stroked]

As Ronnie noted, in 49-53 the blocks/heads were changed to move more water to the back of the block. Part of the reason is that the cars were bigger/heavier, had more accessories and the engines were running hotter.

The gasket you show is similar/same to most 49-53 gasket sets I've seen - from Best, Edelbrock, Felpro, etc.. I don't know of any gasket set that has a different cooling hole arrangement in the rear of the block. I've seen some older BestGasket versions with a big lower hole and maybe some from McCord that had a big lower hole - but not sure if I've seen ANY as of late.

With that said, you could modify your heads to enable the one smaller hole to go through the head, but in my opinion that will not make any difference in the cooling of the engine. There are two big water outlet holes right above the smaller one - so how much could it really help?

I tend to use BestGasket GraphTite head gaskets for most street engines - though I am using Cometic MLS gaskets on one of my more "experimental" street engines (with good results). The last 49-53 build I did had Edelbrock heads and GraphTite gaskets (no mods) - has worked just fine.

I'd just buy a set of BestGasket gaskets and be done with it. You can go with the GraphTite or the copper ones - whatever makes you happy! LOL.

Don't buy the knock-off ones from Speedway - unless they call them out as actual BestGaskets. The last set of Speedway's own brand head gaskets that I saw had fire-ring issues - so I sent them back.

[Lhead]

Thks for the ideas .

[Lhead]

I used my fiber gasket as an example in the pic for showing how the gasket water hole does not align with head . This gasket is exactly the same as the copper gasket I used. Both are manufactured by "best " gaskets . Hope this has explained things in small print without the question mark. Lol

[Ronnieroadster]

Unfortunately the only gasket currently being made with water coolant holes that are not restrictive is made by Cometic. Every other brand available have those small restrictive holes in four to five of the most critical areas.
Some brands of older gaskets made a long time ago came with coolant holes that were less restrictive. Swap meets like Hershey as an example would be a good source to find sets of these older gaskets.

Other than that it is possible to open up the water coolant holes in composition or copper head gaskets as needed in any new set of gaskets currently available if you take your time. Its worth the effort.
Ronnieroadster

[47topless]

Sort of still on topic..... If I use a copper gasket on a stock engine with stock iron heads, do I need to apply gear grease to both sides of gasket? Does this then make removal pf heads easier, down the road? Does the gear grease improve the seal?
Thank you,
Phil

[Brian]

do I need to apply gear grease to both sides of gasket?


You don't need to, but I do!


Does this then make removal pf heads easier, down the road?



it most certainly does; I coat each head stud with anti seize also, this also helps immeasurably!


Does the gear grease improve the seal?




Yes, as you torque down the head[s], the grease allows the surfaces to slide as they settle into position, also, any grease that oozes into combustion chamber is easily assimilated during combustion, unlike some other 'gasket sealers'.

[Lhead]

Originally Posted by Ronnieroadster

Unfortunately the only gasket currently being made with water coolant holes that are not restrictive is made by Cometic. Every other brand available have those small restrictive holes in four to five of the most critical areas.
Some brands of older gaskets made a long time ago came with coolant holes that were less restrictive. Swap meets like Hershey as an example would be a good source to find sets of these older gaskets.

Other than that it is possible to open up the water coolant holes in composition or copper head gaskets as needed in any new set of gaskets currently available if you take your time. Its worth the effort.
Ronnieroadster

Thanks ,sounds like a good solution .going to open them up .

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by Lhead

Thanks ,sounds like a good solution .going to open them up .

L head,

I'm in the process of doing the same. I'll found the 1/8" shaft stone set from Harbor Freight works well for this job and are very cheap. I was using some carbide bits, but these stones are working well with the copper gaskets.

[Lhead]

Originally Posted by Tim Ayers

L head,

I'm in the process of doing the same. I'll found the 1/8" shaft stone set from Harbor Freight works well for this job and are very cheap. I was using some carbide bits, but these stones are working well with the copper gaskets.

Approx what dia are you opening up to and are you doing all the small holes or just the rear
Thanks

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by Lhead

Approx what dia are you opening up to and are you doing all the small holes or just the rear
Thanks

You will need to place them on your heads to confirm the needed size. All aftermarket heads are different, so there isn't one set hole size.

Ronnie suggested using a small ball peen hammer and LIGHTLY tap the gasket around the corresponding hole in the head. This will give you a guide.

[Kube]

Originally Posted by Kube

Aussie Merc has given you great advice. Pistonbroke backed that up. Please, do yourself a favor and listen to these guys.

That small hole in the gasket was a design change that I believe happened right around 1946. Ford figured out that if the coolant was slowed down in that rear hole, the engine cooled better.

After reading post #6, I went back to my Ford service book and did find the design change to the gasket I'd mentioned in post #5. I was happy to know that occasionally my memory doesn't fail me.
In fact, the hole at the REAR of the gasket was reduced in size in 1946 to provide better cooling.
I know nearly nothing about the later (49+) engines so can't speak to what those gaskets were.

[deuce_roadster]

I have never had ANY overheating issues with any of the flatheads I have built. Some had copper Felpros, most were Best composite, all gaskets used as they came from the package and all ran thermostats, some aluminum some iron heads. In fact, when I fired up my avatar roadster for the first time, I hadn't put the thermostats in yet and it wouldn't get above 110 degrees and ran like crap, once above 150 with stats it ran great. These 8 or 9 engines were all either stock 3 1/16 24 stud motors for concourse or 59 series with merc cranks, Ross pistons with metric rings and 2 97s or 2 81s or Holley 4 bbls and mild cams. Blocks were either NOS or Redi-stripped and completely clean of sand and crap from the foundry. I know the desire to make things better is large but when everything is the way it is supposed to be (airflow, fan, timing, F/A mixture) I don't believe modifying the head gasket holes will make any actual difference in a street driven situation. If you are doing Bonneville and 6000+ RPM maybe it would. I have never blown a head gasket or needed to replace one either, so I don't grease them. That is my experience, my 1st car was a Model A I put a 24 stud engine in when I was 12 and I'm 74 now.