Ok guys, I'll try to make this as short as possible but feel the need to explain as best as possible so you understand my issue, and tons of questions aren't forced to be asked...
Last year I did some very mild to moderate fuel, air, oil, and electronics upgrades to my 99 F350 tow pig/daily driver and dyno tuned it to 550 rear wheel horse, and 1200 rear wheel pound feet of torque. Due to time constraints, I did not stud the heads but had planned on it in the future; however the engine decided it needed them sooner, and I lifted the driver's side head. Upon further diagnosis we thought I also had a rod knocking so the engine was pulled, and sent to the local Ford machine shop. After the engine was disassembled and spec'd, the only thing found in need of repair were the heads. Since we were completely disassembled, I went ahead and told the machinist to perform the following...heads resurfaced, ported, polished, hardened valves, stronger retainers, stronger push rods, valve modifications, line honed, bored, stroked, balanced, blue printed, head studs, main studs, girdle, forged rods, and deeper dished pistons.
My machinist has been building race cars, drag cars, and pulling trucks for 25+ years and he recommended Cometic head gaskets. I've been doing business with him for 12 years, and he's never let me down, so that's what we put on it. Dropped the engine back in a few weeks ago, and threw in a custom built South Bend double disc to better hold my 6 speed rated at 750hp/1400ft. lbs., as the previous 400hp/900ft. lb. South Bend would slip empty in 6th gear before the engine went down.
The truck ran awesome for the first 3 days, but on day 4 I noticed my coolant level dropping and found coolant around the cap, so I installed a new Ford degas cap. On day 5 I found it erupting through the cap, and down the side of the truck. I then installed a new Ford degas bottle, tried it again, and still after a mile down the road, the jug was empty, and my truck was again covered in coolant. I pressure tested the system with the engine off, running at idle, and w/ the throttle @ 2,000RPM and found zero change in pressure or coolant level in the jug. I drove it both with the cap on, and off the degas bottle, and after about 2-3 miles down the road, the jug would be empty, and the entire passenger side would be covered in coolant.
After much deliberation and research, I found that Cometic was a great gasket for these trucks back in the mid 2000's, but then they changed the gaskets, added another steel layer, and are pretty much useless now. So I assumed the worst thinking they had already failed in 400 miles, and pulled the heads once again.
They went back to the machine shop and were pressure tested only to find an injector cup/sleeve leaking next to the injector tip hole. We did not replace them because 2 months ago when the heads were pressure tested, no leaks were found, so in the basic form "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" we decided to leave them alone. The old cups have been removed, and the new ones have been pressed in, the heads have been cleaned and are ready to re-install, but I don't know what direction to go in means of head gaskets.
Cometic requires a mirror finish on both the head and the deck for a proper seat/seal, so my machinist shaved both surfaces and polished them to whatever RA finished is required to not only seat/seal the gaskets, but also to be able to use the surfaces as a beauty queens make up mirror because I have never seen a block or head surface that **** clean! Since I have told my machinist that I no longer want Cometic gaskets, he says I need to find another gasket that is .010-.012 over stock thickness so that when the studs are torqued, the crush thickness will be correct due to the amount of material removed during machining.
The problem here is that neither Ford, Navistar, Victor Reinz, or Fel-Pro offer anything other than stock thickness head gaskets that I or my machinist can find. I have been told by a certain Powerstroke shop that will remain unnamed as they are a sponsor, that I need to pull the engine, cut the pistons, and recess the valves to be able to use a stock head gasket because anything thicker than stock will never seat/seal and I will constantly have HG issues.
We (machinist and I) inspected the Cometic gaskets, heads, and block, and found absolutely zero failures. If I cannot find another alternative, I will be forced to run another set of Cometic gaskets and hope they hold because financially I cannot afford what the Powerstroke shop is recommending. So after all of these paragraphs and explanations, I revert to my main question and thread title, what head gasket do I use?
Last year I did some very mild to moderate fuel, air, oil, and electronics upgrades to my 99 F350 tow pig/daily driver and dyno tuned it to 550 rear wheel horse, and 1200 rear wheel pound feet of torque. Due to time constraints, I did not stud the heads but had planned on it in the future; however the engine decided it needed them sooner, and I lifted the driver's side head. Upon further diagnosis we thought I also had a rod knocking so the engine was pulled, and sent to the local Ford machine shop. After the engine was disassembled and spec'd, the only thing found in need of repair were the heads. Since we were completely disassembled, I went ahead and told the machinist to perform the following...heads resurfaced, ported, polished, hardened valves, stronger retainers, stronger push rods, valve modifications, line honed, bored, stroked, balanced, blue printed, head studs, main studs, girdle, forged rods, and deeper dished pistons.
My machinist has been building race cars, drag cars, and pulling trucks for 25+ years and he recommended Cometic head gaskets. I've been doing business with him for 12 years, and he's never let me down, so that's what we put on it. Dropped the engine back in a few weeks ago, and threw in a custom built South Bend double disc to better hold my 6 speed rated at 750hp/1400ft. lbs., as the previous 400hp/900ft. lb. South Bend would slip empty in 6th gear before the engine went down.
The truck ran awesome for the first 3 days, but on day 4 I noticed my coolant level dropping and found coolant around the cap, so I installed a new Ford degas cap. On day 5 I found it erupting through the cap, and down the side of the truck. I then installed a new Ford degas bottle, tried it again, and still after a mile down the road, the jug was empty, and my truck was again covered in coolant. I pressure tested the system with the engine off, running at idle, and w/ the throttle @ 2,000RPM and found zero change in pressure or coolant level in the jug. I drove it both with the cap on, and off the degas bottle, and after about 2-3 miles down the road, the jug would be empty, and the entire passenger side would be covered in coolant.
After much deliberation and research, I found that Cometic was a great gasket for these trucks back in the mid 2000's, but then they changed the gaskets, added another steel layer, and are pretty much useless now. So I assumed the worst thinking they had already failed in 400 miles, and pulled the heads once again.
They went back to the machine shop and were pressure tested only to find an injector cup/sleeve leaking next to the injector tip hole. We did not replace them because 2 months ago when the heads were pressure tested, no leaks were found, so in the basic form "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" we decided to leave them alone. The old cups have been removed, and the new ones have been pressed in, the heads have been cleaned and are ready to re-install, but I don't know what direction to go in means of head gaskets.
Cometic requires a mirror finish on both the head and the deck for a proper seat/seal, so my machinist shaved both surfaces and polished them to whatever RA finished is required to not only seat/seal the gaskets, but also to be able to use the surfaces as a beauty queens make up mirror because I have never seen a block or head surface that **** clean! Since I have told my machinist that I no longer want Cometic gaskets, he says I need to find another gasket that is .010-.012 over stock thickness so that when the studs are torqued, the crush thickness will be correct due to the amount of material removed during machining.
The problem here is that neither Ford, Navistar, Victor Reinz, or Fel-Pro offer anything other than stock thickness head gaskets that I or my machinist can find. I have been told by a certain Powerstroke shop that will remain unnamed as they are a sponsor, that I need to pull the engine, cut the pistons, and recess the valves to be able to use a stock head gasket because anything thicker than stock will never seat/seal and I will constantly have HG issues.
We (machinist and I) inspected the Cometic gaskets, heads, and block, and found absolutely zero failures. If I cannot find another alternative, I will be forced to run another set of Cometic gaskets and hope they hold because financially I cannot afford what the Powerstroke shop is recommending. So after all of these paragraphs and explanations, I revert to my main question and thread title, what head gasket do I use?
