Head Gasket Sealing Coolant Holes

[Tom Wesenberg]

I just bought this Fel Pro head gasket for my Champion engine off ebay. Notice the brass rings crimped around all the coolant holes. Did any gasket company do the same thing for a Model A head gasket, or was this feature only found on pressurized cooling systems?

BTW, this gasket came on time and in mint condition because it was sent by Fed Ex.

I ordered two packages of wire terminals from two different sellers. The first bag came two weeks late and all shredded, like a car did a burnout on it. The other bag has been lost by the post office for over 3 weeks now.Two months ago the post office delivered my taillight to the wrong house, then lost it forever.

[mshmodela]

Tom,

Nice beefy gasket. I was keeping up on this thread:

http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showth...ghlight=gasket

So improvements to the Model A gaskets appear in order... Or are just all newer gaskets just poor repos and the old time ones much better (A newbie question).

[Rich in Tucson]

The new copper Fel Pros I have used recently for Model A engines (7013(?) R3, recommended by Larry Brumfield for his high compression heads) had no rings on the coolant holes but did have them for the cylinder holes. The inside of the coolant holes must be coated with something impermeable to water such as Indian Head Gasket Shellac or you will eventually see seepage and corrosion at the outer edge of the head (even sooner with ethylene glycol) as the water makes its way through the material (asbestos replacement) sandwiched between the copper. I do not believe that the original gaskets had rings there because the original asbestos was impermeable to water. Vince Falter has some good gasket info on his site but I have not reviewed it lately.

[James Rogers]

Tom, you will notice the gasket you show is steel clad. The reason for the rings is copper compresses and seals better than steel. Model A gaskets are made of copper so no rings are needed also, all the edges are rolled and crimped to isolate the inner material to keep them from disintegrating. You will see on all the aftermarket modified gaskets there are sealing rings around these areas. The 32 up composition gaskets didn't have any because the paper composition seals water nicely but even they have steel fire rings around the combustion chambers.

[P.S.]

What about the new Kevlar head gaskets for Model As?

[James Rogers]

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Originally Posted by P.S.

What about the new Kevlar head gaskets for Model As?

Those are sealed all around with silicone.

[Synchro909]

PS and James, If you are talking about those gaskets with the red silicone lines around the combustion chambers and holes, I won't use another one. I'm not impressed AT ALL.
They may have been a nice try but came up short, in my opinion/experience.

[James Rogers]

Originally Posted by Synchro909

PS and James, If you are talking about those gaskets with the red silicone lines around the combustion chambers and holes, I won't use another one. I'm not impressed AT ALL.
They may have been a nice try but came up short, in my opinion/experience.

I agree. I used one and that was it. On all my motors I use a copper gasket and if the customer wants one of those, they can put it on.

[leatherback1929]

I put one of the red silicone ones on my A and the silicone profile didn't stay between the block and head but ran into some of the passage areas. If the silicone isn't sandwiched between the head and block what good can it do?