...good/bad/ugly? I blew the head gasket on my stock turbocharged B18a (92 Integra LS I think) and was thinking it might be an easy upgrade to do while the head is off.

 

I think you should just use another stock one. If you want to spend money on something, you could get arp head studs. Stock LS' compression is already low enough to push the engine's internals to their limits I believe.

 

bad idea. stick with the stock OEM Honda head gasket. many people here are making well over 500-600WHP on oem head gaskets.

im at 400whp on a stocker.

 

eastbay92cx - already have the ARP studs Do you by any chance know what the stock compression ratio is (9.2:1)? For a turbo setup I try to stay around 8.5-9:1.

Mr. Vapor - Im not really worried about the ability of a stock gasket to handle the power but am seeing if I can use a thicker gasket reliably to bring down the compression ratio of my engine.

 

gain power from the tune, not from a lower compression. thats my advice.

 

Im running a cometic 0.072" headgasket on my stock block gsr turbo.. Along with ARP studs TQ'd to 65ft/lbs..

There is nothing wrong with cometic HG's.. bad idea.. lol.

My compression is around 8.8:1 with the headgasket and block/head combo, I run a conservative tune with 94 octane.

You gain power from the tune yes.. But you can only push it so far, it can only take so much timing.. Alone lower compression wont make more power, but it may allow you to run more timing to make more power then if you had a higher compression because you wouldnt beable to run the timing safely with the higher compression... Hard to explain

No harm in a thicker head gasket to give you a few points lower.

 

Put a stock oem on it and call it good! Arp's definately!

 

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

No harm in a thicker head gasket to give you a few points lower.</TD></TR></TABLE>

not true... you loose alot as far as combustion chamber efficency/quench/squish when you have excessive piston to head clearance.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDogg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">not true... you loose alot as far as combustion chamber efficency/quench/squish when you have excessive piston to head clearance.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Would you mind explaining that in a little more detail?

 

jDogg makes sense

I suppose that if the HG were too thick, it'd interfere with the whole head's combustion chamber design right? The combustion process would be displaced in an area that isn't ideal at all (partially).

I can't really visualize this too well, nor can I explain it...but I think I have at least some grasp on it (tenuous)

The quench and squish are terms relating to turbulence within the head. When the piston displaces air into the head and reaches TDC, there is a corresponding area in the head to receive the air and distribute it in the combustion process...I'm guessing that this turbulence has been modeled to allow for a better mixture/atomization and thus a better burn. The tighter the head/piston tolerance, the better the distribution of the A/F mixture...or so I believe the trend goes

Efficiency might come into play here. We want to burn all the fuel that enters, so we want to efficiently extract power from the least amount of fuel necessary to create max power. If we burn ALL of the fuel, then at a certain point of increasing fuel...over and over...we'll get to that max power and efficiency eh? No I dunno I'm just BS'ing really...

 

There's a p[roblem with using thicker headgaskets, it ruins the quench pad area of the piston to head chamber. while on a FI app you are allowed to run more boosting, but issue is your loosing flow and performance because of it, you end up having to over compensate with using more boost than nessary because of it. Personally, I tried it and yea it was "OK" i did not in the end make much more than the stock etup, and I then was required to have an adjustable timing gear to compensate for the extra distance of the cam to crank, and it ended up in the long run costing me like $350 instead of just bolting and go on a stocker that would have been like $145 including ARP studs.

I again do not recommend you use a thicker gasket, the performane gains are minimual compaired to the costs and then you have to have a pro shop degree the cam so it's set perfectly zero like it should when you do do that. all that costs $.

You can get the same HP gains by using a good standalone and tuner.

 

Thanks guys, exactly the type of info I was looking for!

 

What about the ppl that make over 400whp on a 100% stock b18c1 bc of a thicker head gasket? Is it bad?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EG civic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What about the ppl that make over 400whp on a 100% stock b18c1 bc of a thicker head gasket? Is it bad?</TD></TR></TABLE>

very very few people have done that.. the only reason it holds up is b/c they have a good strong motor, not b/c of a headgasket

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by URNVS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...good/bad/ugly? I blew the head gasket on my stock turbocharged B18a (92 Integra LS I think) and was thinking it might be an easy upgrade to do while the head is off.</TD></TR></TABLE>

NO!!!! BAD!!!!!

 

i am running an .065 Cometic on my GSR but my pistons are .016 out of the deck
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by oscarmayer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There's a p[roblem with using thicker headgaskets, it ruins the quench pad area of the piston to head chamber. while on a FI app you are allowed to run more boosting, but issue is your loosing flow and performance because of it, you end up having to over compensate with using more boost than nessary because of it. Personally, I tried it and yea it was "OK" i did not in the end make much more than the stock etup, and I then was required to have an adjustable timing gear to compensate for the extra distance of the cam to crank, and it ended up in the long run costing me like $350 instead of just bolting and go on a stocker that would have been like $145 including ARP studs.


I again do not recommend you use a thicker gasket, the performane gains are minimual compaired to the costs and then you have to have a pro shop degree the cam so it's set perfectly zero like it should when you do do that. all that costs $.

You can get the same HP gains by using a good standalone and tuner.</TD></TR></TABLE>

So with my quence area so big, how much can I benefit from adjusting my cam gears, I still think my comp. is around 9-1 cause my head has also been milled twice.

 

what about double stacked oem gaskets?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hybrdthry911 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what about double stacked oem gaskets?</TD></TR></TABLE>

That sounds real ghetto

 

might sound ghetto, but ive heard its done a lot