I'm wondering if once you torque down the metal headgasket, can you reuse it?

Being such that if the gasket is fine (not blown) and ther is no visible damage, you should just be able to clean it off, recoat it with copper spray and torque it down?

Would it still yeild the same torque capacity?

Just wondering is all. I seem to do that a lot.

 

Personally, I would never re-use a headgasket, regardless of it's condition. It's such an important piece that can make or break your motor. I would use a new one.

 

Well, I'll be the first to say that Ive never tried reusing a stock headgasket. But, I have reused Cometic gaskets quite a few time with no problem and they are a similiar MLS style gasket. The only thing is this...is it worth it for you to pull the head over $100? To me its a cheap trade off cause pulling a head and setting the timing belt and valve lash cost a lot more doing it two times then once from a business standpoint. If your your own mechanic then I would say give it a try, if it fails then your only out the cost of a new gasket

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93LSivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well, I'll be the first to say that Ive never tried reusing a stock headgasket. But, I have reused Cometic gaskets quite a few time with no problem and they are a similiar MLS style gasket. The only thing is this...is it worth it for you to pull the head over $100? To me its a cheap trade off cause pulling a head and setting the timing belt and valve lash cost a lot more doing it two times then once from a business standpoint. If your your own mechanic then I would say give it a try, if it fails then your only out the cost of a new gasket</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, well I guess I should also admit that I've already used this 84mm GE gasket twice with no problems. I was even running about 15psi which would be about 450hp. However, I'm not so sure I wanna attempt a third useage out of it...

I'll most likely just buy a new one, but I'm just wondering how many people have reused their gaskets with no problems?