Head Gaskets - Myths Busted, History And Types For The Home Engine Builder 

Are you sure she said “go film yourself?” Back in the 80’s with aluminum heads and iron blocks we found on the Ford Escorts that the poor coolant was etching away at the heads and depositing the aluminum onto the water pump shaft causing the pump to lock up. The early Escorts were interference engines and the timing belt drove the water pump. Water pump locks up, engine goes bang. Aaaahh. The good old days

When your at the track and need to do the coat hanger wire trick but a coat hanger is nowhere to be found, the engine dipstick works in a heartbeat to hold the pushrods in place.

Can’t wait for the day when we see the “directors cut” of Angry Uncle Tony… it can’t be THAT bad, can it Uncle Kathy???

I'm glad you're getting better at filming. Not that I had any problems with your previous videos. That being said, we like Uncle Kathy. If she doesn't want to film, that's fine. But don't try to do everything yourself if she wants to participate. It's nice to have her camera skills and her commentary.

Personally, I blame squirrels. Nasty little fuzzy tree rats. 🐿️

By the way, my first monster big block was a 383 with a cam out of the direct connection catalogue. It was called.a purple cam. There were others too. It was .695 lift, 340 degree and mushroom.tappets... Rev cam. It was psycho motor. I rallied off road in a 68 short bed power wagon. With factory 2" lift. No jeep or land cruiser could touch me. Of course no power.breaks, but.i could idle.up a 38 degree incline.with moguls. I took the doors off and a couple times walked along.my rig to read tje.lie of.land Got.married and stupidly broke up the classic to put the motor in a satellite to roadrunner conversion. 25 years later.it was.in a speed.boat with only add the wet pipes. That was a bad ass psychootor.

I've never had a problem with metal gaskets sprayed with copper paint

There was an episode of the Andy Griffith show where Andy hired an English chap to do all Aunt B’s house work for her. It made Aunt B feel useless. She actually enjoyed the cooking and cleaning because it made her feel useful, appreciated and accomplished in her contribution to the family.

Uncle Tony is a perfectionist with engines, Uncle Kathy is a perfectionist with video production! What a lovely combination for us viewers. 😁🤣

Uncle Tony, keep doing what you're doing! I watch your videos because you get to the meat and potatoes of engines!

Appreciate you doing this a third time to get the video out, was perfect. Although there's something endearing when there's a slight movement of the camera knowing your old lady is patiently stood there filming 😄

I recall way back in the dark days, we had a 1950s Morris that ate head gaskets. Dad made his own from brown paper and Hylomar. Never leaked again until we sold it.

Used to make gaskets out of leather and sometimes copper sheet. Back when I turned wrenches. Every once in awhile I'd get an odd ball industrial motor that was obsolete. That was farming though. Whatever it took to get it back up and running for harvest time. Always worked well though.

when i first started working on cars my mentor was working on a car with a severely blown head gasket. the question out of him was do you think all head gaskets are sealed perfectly? i said likely not. he said good answer. he went on to say there is no such thing as a head gasket that is not blown, it is just to which degree that it is blown.

straight to the point and facts. Keep em coming Uncle Tony. I'll keep watching.

yeah i agree the 5 bolts around each cylinder is way better i never pushed head gaskets till i got my first SBF

Subaru, my friends, where aret thou

I have never ever before, heard Lisa's Hots Cakes head gaskets referenced to, in any sort of way, in an engine build tutorial of any sort! Only you, LOL!!!

11:26 I remember hearing about certain late 90s Fords having issues with "false" check engine codes because of dirty coolant and the voltage it creates. Check engine light on? Could just be dirty coolant if it's an old Ford. Some more recalling , something about using ground straps on heater cores and other cooling system parts to try and calm down the electrolysis /voltage issue.

Those Hoyt-Clagwell tractors were known for blowing head gaskets. Damn that Haney!

Thanks Tony! I have 3 or 4 used but perfect looking steel shim headgaskets for my Slant 6s, I've hesitated to use them but you can't get new ones so I keep using the thicker modern composite ones which they want actual money for and lower the CR after I go to all the trouble to try to get the CR up in the first place. I wish Cometic or somebody would hurry up and make some Slanty MLS gaskets

Uncle Tony you are a national treasure!🇺🇸

Hate to tell you but Uncle Kathy filming does help the video quality. Also on the higher horsepower turbo diesels if you do not retorque a few times on a head gasket install you are pretty well guaranteed of failure.

@14:00 Nice you pointed that out, Tony. Been beating that advantage up to people who don’t comprehend, or don’t understand that design advantage for years. Fun fact: the first gen (49-64) Olds Rocket has 6 head bolts around each chamber- and I’ve never seen or had to replace a head gasket on one. This made a huge advantage for early blower motors in the hot rod scene of the 50’s and 60’s- with that kind of clamping power, the early Olds engine did very well with forged internals in forced combustion arrangements.

If you watch "the straight eight challenge" series over on cold war motors, they reused a damaged head gasket from a Buick straight eight.

You know what Tony? 50+ years of torquing bolts and I still learn something from you fairly often. Thanks.

"Go film yourself" has just entered my vocabulary; because I'm as sure that's what she said; just like that reporter heard "let's go brandon"

1:34 The First Trick I learned, by myself, was to use the oil dipstick to hold the pushrods in place when dropping in the rocker arms and shaft.

We do miss uncle Kathy

I was waiting for you to get to the importance of changing the coolant as recommended.. coolant (when it breaks down due to never being changed) actually turns into what's practically battery acid the eats at the metal in the gasket as you eluded to.. and as I'm sure you know.. you can even use a multimeter with the common (ground) lead on a good ground.. then place the positive lead in the radiator just until the probe touches the coolant (not anything else) and actually test for voltage.. depending on the reading you can guesstimate as to the breakdown of the coolant into acid.. furthermore... bad block grounds can cause the voltage/current to permeate the block and more readily and exacerbate the breakdown of the coolant into an acid... a lot of newer cars are far more sensitive to even the slightest voltage drop so one would likely notice other issues that could possibly lead them to properly diagnose such a condition.. but being on older Master Tech and Diagnostician and doing a lot of hot rodding and racing throughout my years i can say that older cars are a little for forgivable to slight grounding issues and that would speed up the decay of head gaskets.. I've seen it myself in my experience.. great video as always brother.. keep up the great work... 💪🇺🇸🇺🇸💪✌👍

When i was a young kid I asked a flat rate engine mechanic at the local dodge dealer what the torque spec was for sb mopar head bolts. He said he didn`t know. I laughed as I thought he was joking. He wasn`t. He said he just cranks them down with a impact. He said I never had a come back. I will never forget that.

I really appreciate the time you spend on how to lay out the information so it is delivered in the best picture it can be imagined and observed. 👌🏻

I just rebuilt a flathead willys. I ran and had a few heat cycles. Used a copper head gasket. I planed to re-torque at 100 miles. I had maybe 20 miles. I had bubbles in my coolant. I re-torqued and the gasket sealed. I now have hundreds of miles. Nice thing with a flat head, I dont have to remove anything to retorque.

You rock man, mechanics like this ladies and gentlemen are a dying breed, keep learning how to fix and repair your own car and itll be much much easier in life.

When Uncle Kathy threw the camera at you, are you sure she said film? Keep them coming Uncle Tony.

Your vider style matches your personality perfectly. No fancy intros, outtros, promos logos just a crapton of knowledge, technology, technique. A venerable cornucopia of information then bang , see ya tomorrow. They always look like they were done in one take.

I VOTE TO BRING BACK KATHY!!!

No squirrels yet

G'Day,Tony,and Miss Kathy,,Long time ago we would go camping (IN STYLE),we had a Clay putt putt engine, water cooled, running on the river bank and would run a 3 phase alternator and water pump for the HOT Shower,,any way this week end we blow the head gasket,,(F&*K) so in to one horse town with no prospect of finding a new Clay gasket,( I mean the motor has to be made in the 50's) Brought a pak of breakie cereal and some fine stainless mesh,,and made a gasket from carbord and stainless with Muffler putty,,now that was in the 70's,,and the old Girl is still running to day,same gasket,( I mean if it ain't broke,)

Thanks @UncleTony'sGarage! What about choosing head gasket thickness to affect compression?

One of my favorite things to learn about is the engineering that goes into the internal combustion engine. Those were some clever people! From a performance perspective, all the little details add up and just like many engineering projects, the final product is greater than the sum of it's parts. A symphony of moving metal and fluids, gasses, flexing and strain... it's all calculated together! I just love it! Great stuff Tony!

Great video. But. What did you use on the 383?????

Subaru had a problem because of a coating they used on the head gasket that turned out to not last longer than 15,000miles in many instances. So be warry of mls gaskets that are pre coated you dont know how good that coating is.

Yep. I had that exact same thing happen on my old '89 Volvo. The gasket leaked coolant slowly in between the 1st and 2nd cylinders into the 1st cylinder and etched the block. Because it was a turbo and thus low compression, it still ran pretty good and I didn't know I had a problem until it was too late. I would have had to had the block welded and then resurfaced to repair it which just wasn't worth it.

Let her just shoot the damn thing! Who suffers when the parents fight? Us,the children and the "art"!!! I wondered why there weren't close ups on some videos that needed it you normally automatically had with Uncle Kathy's superior camera work!!! Y'all are a team, dig it?!? It's good for your ego that you can kinda film,put camera on tri-pod,push play,stay in frame,yaa. But having your better half doing her part lets the teamwork become the dream work! Laurel isn't shit without Hardy, Moe by himself is just that Moe,nobody to smack,slap,poink their eyes out,talk to,Batman in the original series without Robin,wasn't much either, the Lone Ranger without Tonto and or Trigger,is fukt!!! Fred without Barney, Rocky without Bullwinkle, Sherman without his boy Peabody, Howdy Doody without Buffalo Bob, Scooby without Shaggy,c'mon man, totally fukt!!! I can go on, but you get the point, Wally without his cockroach buddy. Yes you can, but it's better with 2! I mean c'mon man, you just can't send Uncle Kathy to the unemployment line!!!!

uncle tony first time i saw it thought this guy looks like my uncle, so i did write a comment; hey uncle, later I discovered yor channel is uncle...-- i said to myself wtf..no joking

my head gasket has 30 years old in the engine,,with 280.000 kms do you beieve it? i think the secret is temp and a clean colling sys, always use a good concentration of green coolant

I rebuilt a vintage Coventry Climax engine some years ago and all of the gaskets were made of leather and assembled with a thin layer of grease, It still runs today and is fitted to a early Morgan 4.

Was wondering about the whole retorquing thing when I put the B20 engine together for the 66 Volvo wagon you see in the little round picture. Every Volvo guy says you gotta retorque OR ELSE! It was my first and likely last vintage Volvo engine build so of course I did it. Kind of a pain in the ass, pull the rocker cover, then pull the rocker shaft to get at the bolts. Legend has it Volvo used a special socket to do this without pulling the rocker shaft, was pretty sure that's a load of crap, now I'm convinced.

Great info on a topic often overlooked!

Oh Uncle Tony & Ultra Kathy, Thank You So Much for this (and all of these solo) Video's! As a newer you tuber, I just did a video on taking apart a BBF and how I go about it. I was in the Groove Man! It was one of my BEST feeling shoots! I go to upload it to edit it........ I SHOT THE BACK OF MY HEAD AND MY BUTT! The mic wasn't plugged in so NO AUDIO!!!!! ZERO Nadda.... nothing! Can't re-shoot it, because I don't have another (never been opened up) engine! RRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 hours of completely un-usable footage that can't be repeated..... ug. This Video Stuff is harder than I thought it was and Ultra Kathy is beyond GREAT!

I hear when in a pinch overcooked pancake batter will do the trick.

How bout headbolts??? Once upon a time we just reused what we had lol!!

On the old ones I like to tap holes use copper antisieze with grade 8 washers under bolt head get a real smooth torque reading. I Kno certain motors like a 3800 u use copper spray on head gaskets

Thank you for explaining all of this. I recently rebuilt and did initial break in on my 72 Cutlass S (original 350 block and iron heads) and was confused by the information out there regarding whether to retorque the head bolts. My Chiltons manual told me to retorque, but my Chassis Assembly manual made no mention of it. Im using the newer style of composite gasket to be clear. Thank you, have a great day.

Good job. This kind of information is why I subscribed. Carry on.

You have no idea what you're talking about high performance motors you have to retork head gaskets

Tell the idiots with die grinders to keep them in the tool box, clean and flat is the most important step in *any* headgasket replacement.

I really enjoyed this informative video on the history of head gasket construction. Nice 👍 job Uncle Tony!

That's galvanic corrosion. If needed, you could use impressed current or a zinc anode (sacrificial anode).

Angry Tony would be good to see occasionally, haven't seen you throw anything in a while!

Video on topic starts at 4:13 for any one who wants to know

I never retorqued the heads on my flathead, those replacement gaskets were post-asbestos, though.

Don't worry Tony One of the reasons I appreciate your channel so much is because you are just you I'm not Tech Savvy either You just put out the information that you want to and don't worry about the Fine touches of production and I Appreciate it because it's honest and You are real mechanic Not a RU-vid personality that films themselves being mechanical I've been a mechanic for 25 years and I learned from guys just like you there's not too many left and I appreciate What you're doing

Gm had huge issues from the late 80's into the 2000's from dexcool breaking down prematurely then eating the headgasket, pitting the aluminum heads causing antifreeze creep through the MLS headgasket contacting the headbolts ( northstar V8), the small blocks and v6's had all kinds of intake manifold gasket antifreeze leaks. Then there was the silicone separation issues that clogged radiators and heater cores. If you run a vehicle with any form of extended life antifreeze and its not clear and brightly colored when poured in a white Styrofoam cup you better get it changed out, it does not last as long as claimed and once beyond 100k miles you should drain and fill the radiator every 30k miles or two years.

I still like Copper Coat no matter what. Something else about the fire ring gaskets, if you're using aluminum heads there are three distinct warm up temps, iron, aluminium and stainless. UT, you ain't bad on the filming side but UK is better. Please use her as you can. It's also nice to have another point of view as well. Please keep doing what you're doing 😆 One last thing. I've made leather gaskets myself. I'm reminded of the time my Holley 500 quit in Apache Junction, Az. at 2AM because the vacuum chamber gasket had shrunk after a year of sitting on my 58 Ford Tudor, 292. I used a 10 oz.ball peen and an exact exacto knife and was back on the road about 6 hours later!

Great info on the gaskets and video quality is outstanding next comes audio yup you guessed it way to low. But again everything else was good.

Soooo, no head install vid. Did you use head bolts or studs and nuts? Great info on gaskets.

Your tutorials are some of the best for a carpenter/ shade tree like me thank you and keep them coming even if your angry

Tony you never disappoint. Great video. Thank you

Either you are getting good at filming or uncle Kathy is good at editing...

Tony I appreciate the history lesson. I’ve only recently been messing with engines and it really helps to understand how we got to where we are. I’ve been looking at what type of head gasket is best for my application and this helps!

Uncle Tony you have the skills! You are a professor! Love your videos! Every car guy on the U.S. says go on line and listen to what Uncle Tony has to say about it. I like the way you compare the Chevy small block to the Chrysler small block and so on. Please don't stop. Bring back Aunt Kathy!!!

Tony great video! I appreciate the extra effort to get it right for not only good picture quality/lighting/focus but also well thought out and accurate and thorough enough to give people an idea of when & how the OEMs changed the hd gasket material/design as they modernized from lower compression flat hd engines to higher comp OHV engines to aluminum hds & intakes. The only thing I think you might have wanted to mention (which would probably only be of interest to those few UTG folks who might be seeking really high cylinder pressures: like big boost turbos & superchargers or big nitrous shots and many of them are probably already aware of it) would be using copper head gaskets and grooving the block deck to receive sealing rings around each cylinder bore. I know for the majority of YT viewers working on their own engines out of their own garages it would be pricey to have a machine shop do it and they aren't likely to be shooting for the moon on their first couple of builds. 3 takes proves your dedication. I'm not expecting you to do a 4th video. Thanks Tony

Sealing technology has evolved beautifully. I absolutely love the Felpro Permatorque MLS head gaskets. I've used them on every Honda SOHC engine I've done work on and they never went out of torque (even though the manuals tell you to double check torque) and I've never had a defect. I really like having the extra insurance of the MLS along with that blue compound they put on it. I've pulled heads off of junkyard cars that were abused as heck and that coating held them together. Whenever the time comes to reseal my '79 Chevy Van's 350 it will get a PT MLS gasket set as well.

This makes me feel like im building an engine with my Grandpa again.

A factual contrarian story. Rover took over the Buick 215 aluminium V8, they messed around with it, bored it, stroked it and eventually went from five bolt to four on the heads because it turned out to produce less gasket fails....

Very informative & another excellent lesson Uncle Tony. Cheers & stay safe😊

He is the coolest teacher ever . The one man show he can do it all HE DEALS IN ABSOLUTES TRANSPERRENT BRUTALLY HONEST HE DESERVES A AWARD OF SOME SORT. DAVID VIZARD AND TONY GOT ABSOLUTE KNOW HOW IF THEM 2 WERE TO COLIDE THIER MINDS IT WOULD BE absolutely only dealing in absolutes PERIOD.

You mean the head gasket delete won’t work with enough torque?

Nice, no nonsense delivery of what people need to know about gaskets. The 5 bolt trivia was a treat. Thx

Great info, much appreciated

Back in the early 1960s we learned about engines working on Chevy sixes. Took off the heads, cleaned the block and head and reused the same head gaskets. We couldn't afford new ones. Our torque wrench was a 3/4" box wrench with a three foot piece of pipe as a handle. None of us had a clue how it was supposed to be. We all were 13-15 years old. Backyard mechanics at best. But the engines always ran. The good old days.

I usually end up using the antenna to hold the pushrods in place. It's half the reason its still on the car.

Good video Uncle Tony! The only thing I would mention is that MLS gaskets need a smoother finish of around 10 to 15 Ra on the block and heads. The “blue” head gaskets can live with a rougher deck finish.

I did a lot of searching to find this information on the different types and how each is used. This was by far the best. Most just wanted to talk about the MLS type but I have an old tractor that is using an old style composite gasket. Thank you. I dont care about the slickness of the video it is the information that is hiven.

uncle tony i too am a utube publisher, and i really wish i had help with my video's, such as a camera person, a grip person, doing the actual video alone can take up to 2 hrs, then i go home put away all my equipment then begin the editing process... which can take another 3 to 5hrs depending on how much jibber jabber and flippity flop i have to remove because i start to get off track such as" back in the old day's" stories start to add unnecessary footage that needs to be trimmed, so i try to talk only the bullet points to reduce editing and i come out with less stress on myself and still get the quality video that my viewers like so much keep up the good work sir i listen to alot of rebuild videos and your in the top 10.

What about copper head gaskets and machining O ring shaped groves in the head and/ or block? How much warpage can copper spray gasket sealer handle WITHOUT using any head gasket? I'm trying to raise compression on a 1973 318 Dodge. I'm leaning toward Magnum heads and copper gaskets. What's the best Magnum head casting number? Do I use a copper head gasket for a 1973 or a later model?

Could you show your welding rod truck for the push rods in a future video maybe some other old school Mopar tricks? Love the videos, appreciate everything!

Uncle tony angry we want to see the video already! Thank you for all the great content I learn a lot from it!

Thanks for another awesome video. You are an excellent teacher! I appreciate all the content. I love the honesty and natural presentation.

Being in my 40's, I don't have all of this sage wisdom as UT and a lot older followers followers. I greatly appreciate the history and evolution lesson on head gaskets.

Thank you

🤔 👍 but is it a myth when chiltons said to torque again when hot? 😲 .. way back in the 70’s was doing the top end on a 69 Opel GT .. didn’t retorque next day wouldn’t start 🤦 head gasket again 😡 .. 🤷‍♂️

I want to see angry Tony!! I'll get him angry, Hey uncle Tony can you install a digital cluster into one of your daily drivers.

Wonderful video UT. Great story as well.

Your doing OK. Not OK, but 1 we.love you and Uncle Kathy and 2 we miss Uncle Kathy.

What just a great great orator !!

Tony where are you from? I'm from Montclair. MHS Class of 1980.

Years ago I had a late 1970s Ford E150 van break down on the Southern coast of Oregon. It was the stupidest thing! A screw from the air cleaner mounting bracket loosened up and got sucked through the carb and into a cylinder. I heard the noise, pulled to the side of the highway, shut the engine off and called for a tow. The driver who responded said, "You're in luck. We're just a few miles from one of the oldest Ford truck repair shops in the country." And he was right! Turns out this shop had been specializing in Ford trucks for over 50 years and the owner's favorite engine was the 300ci 6-cyl., which happened to be what was in my van. He was even happy to let me do some of the work, to save some money. We pulled the head, found the screw in one cylinder, a few minor marks on the piston but no real damage done. The only hold up was getting a replacement head gasket and there weren't any auto parts stores in Port Orford OR. It took a couple days to get one, but the locals took great care of us. It's a small town, so everyone had already heard about the couple whose van had broken down on the highway. The owner/mechanic in the shop showed me a trick with those old style shim steel gaskets. Instead of Copper Coat (which I'd used on other cars), he just used metallic spray paint... silver, copper, or gold... didn't matter, so long as it was a metallic paint it would seal just fine, he said. And it did! I drove that van a few more years and another 50,000 miles, then we gave it to our son in law who used it in his house painting business for several more years. It probably had over 100,000 miles put on it after that repair. I don't recall what brand or color of rattle can metallic paint we used. Whatever he had lying around. P.S. The repair shop was fascinating... mostly worked on big trucks from the logging industry. It had a belt and pulley system overhead to run old school "power tools" like lathes and mills from a common source. Felt like a trip back in time. Plus the three or four days we spent in Port Orford turned out to be one of our favorite vacation memories (in spite of the breakdown).