I have a bensoned sleeved block in my GSR and it has copper o-rings. I pulled the head the other day because I'm going to be upgrading the valvetrain and I noticed the copper o-rings are pretty flattened out and I figured since I have the head off I might as well replace the copper. I searched here and found a little of info on removing the copper, but I couldn't find where to buy new stuff, my tuner said to goto homedepot, but he didn't really say what size copper to get to fit in the grooves. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

use .041" copper wire. Tap the wire into the groove gentley. Take a hand stone and flatten (smooth) the wire to a level of about ,009"-.010" above the deck.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by earl &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">use .041" copper wire. Tap the wire into the groove gentley. Take a hand stone and flatten (smooth) the wire to a level of about ,009"-.010" above the deck.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hmm, that sounds somewhat complicated, and I don't think I have a hand stone layin around anywhere . Are they readily available at stores like homedepot? I'm just wondering what I'm getting myself into trying to change the copper in the sleeves. Could I leave it how it is and just change the headgasket, or is it recommended to be replaced when the head is off. The block probably has 10k miles on it. Thanks

 

I started searching around the internet and found a gasket company called SCE Gaskets Inc. They have an FAQ section and in there, they recommend steel O-ring wire over copper for a better seal and they sell an installation kit with the wire and installation tools. Would this be something to get for my engine or should I go with something else? I don't see any prices on their site, but I have a dealer that is pretty local to me.

Edit: The kit can be bought at Summit for $15.


Modified by mstolars at 12:16 PM 12/29/2005

 

dont use steel orings with an mls gasket

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jared &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dont use steel orings with an mls gasket</TD></TR></TABLE>

Can I ask why? I don't understand, is it something with the layers getting bent by the steel or something? Thanks.

 

Well, I ended up calling the HomeDepot near my house and they carry the .041" copper wire, so I'm just going to go with that. I still need to figure out how to install it, could I use a small peice of PVC pipe, like the one that comes in that SCE kit? Or where can I get a hand stone to flatten it out? Thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mstolars &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Can I ask why? I don't understand, is it something with the layers getting bent by the steel or something? Thanks. </TD></TR></TABLE>

steel won't compress and therefore won't seal properly. You use steel o-ringing with copper head gaskets and copper o-ringing with MLS gaskets.

Replacing it is fairly straight foward but a PITA usually the big thing is makeing the ends meet up properly