Has anyone ever used cylinder shims before? I just had my F22B2 motor totally rebuilt but now Im having a cooling system problem. I purchaced a cooper head gasket from Flat out Gaskets; and both the tech from Flat out Gaskets and the guy who rebuilt my motor seem to think it could be pressure from the cylinders leaking into my water jackets of the block. A suggestion the tech from Flat out Gaskets had was to get cylinder shims to try and get a better seal from the head gasket since its copper and might be having a problem sealing. Now before anyone says it, no I cannot get my block O-ringed. Im stationed in Italy and I cant find anywhere to get it done. If anyone has used shims or knows someone who has please let me know if they work. Also if you know where to buy possibly another head gasket for a F22B2 motor thats been bored out to 85.5, please let me know. Thanks

Will

 

First off:
What kind of Coolant system issue are you having?
And why in God a copper gasket?

Cylinder (Liner) Shims were not intended for this use. They would be used to adjust the deck height for each individual cylinder sleeve, but usually it's done to all 4 rather than one at a time, and it's usually done with dry sleeves - not wet.

They would actually compromise the head to block seal for the surrounding oil and coolant passages because of the uneven deck heights.

P

 

I bought the copper head gasket because I blew out my other one. It didn't hold up to the boost I was running, and since I rebuilt the motor with all forged internals I now plan on running more. What I didnt know was that for a copper head gasket you need to have O-rings. Well since Im stationed in Italy I can't find a place to have it done, that was why the guy recommended shims. So I didnt like that answer, and thats why I posted.

So now I think I found a solution to my problem. SCE Gaskets makes a gasket called the "ICS Titan" which is designed so that "O-rings" are not required. They have the ring already installed and coolant seals to keep all your fluids inside. I did some reading up on it and also talked with a guy from SCE Gaskets and so far I've not found anything bad about them. Just wondering if anyones used them before and might have had any problems.

Will

 

Yeah, that technique was used years ago when we were pumping 13:1 compression thru small block Chevy's. The manufacturer took a composite gasket and embedded the steel ring between the two halves. Quite effective, and stood up well.

I would assume SCE is doing much the same?

P

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by P_Adams &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah, that technique was used years ago when we were pumping 13:1 compression thru small block Chevy's. The manufacturer took a composite gasket and embedded the steel ring between the two halves. Quite effective, and stood up well.

I would assume SCE is doing much the same?

P</TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually GM is still using the composite gasket with the steel ring embedded in it. I know this because my team and i just got done doing a complete tear down and rebuild on a 2.2L 4cyl motor out of a 2000 Cavalier for my gas engines class and the head gasket is a composite gasket with the steel ring. Seemed to work fine because our motor ran like champ. w00t.

SHO