Head gasket thickness

[russcc]

Calculating the head to piston clearance on the 59L. I am using a Best Big Bore head gasket that is about .050 new. What should I expect it to be after 55#s of torque ? Also, does it make a difference which side of the gasket is up or down as long as the notch faces forward. I think I knew once but forgot. Thank you Fordbarners.

[Talkwrench]

you can shoot a message to Best and ask them.

[Mart]

Re the notch and the up and down, if the notch always faces forward then one must be up and one must be down. You don't have a choice in the matter.

Mart.

[35fordtn]

Best claims the gaskets to be .058" and the compressed thickness to be .055". Presuming you are using the Graphtite gaskets

[philipswanson]

So what head gasket do you guys recommend with stock heads on a 59A or older?

[Bored&Stroked]

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Originally Posted by philipswanson

So what head gasket do you guys recommend with stock heads on a 59A or older?

I still like the Best Gaskets stuff . . . the best They can be a bit of a pain to clean up after head removal, but they do work well.

[Bored&Stroked]

I usually use a figure of about .050 for the compressed thickness. Are you sure you have an accurate mic?

[Ol' Ron]

I use thew copper gaskets like the 3036 and their 8ba counterparts, because I can reuse them several times. I also use head "BOLTS" because it's easier to remove the gasket with out damaging it..

[russcc]

I just checked the gaskets again and I get about .062 in the material area and about .067 in the metal fire ring. They are new, and I also realized they came from Speedway, and I have no idea who's gaskets they are. They look like Best gaskets, but ? Thanks you Mart for the orientation on the notch. So if a Best gasket starts out at .058, and ends up compressed @ .050, that gives me rough idea of what to exepct.

[Bored&Stroked]

If they don't say 'Best' on them, then they're not. I bought a full-gasket set from Speedway about 2 years ago - and they were a bit tricky on their website, the wording made it seem like I was buying Best gaskets. They used a lot of the same lingo that Best uses - typical 'Speedway' when they're cloning something - not quite the same as the originals.

The 'clones' by Speedway were nowhere near the same quality as Best - the fire-rings were all goofy, the material was too thick, etc.. The timing cover gasket was .025 - .010 thicker than it should have been (screws up cam thrust). I sent the whole set back to Speedway and bought 'Best' gaskets -- they're named that for a reason! LOL

Here is what I sent them -- they were very nice, refunded my money, etc.. The lady said "nobody ever complained before" . . . maybe not, so I didn't mind being the first:

Here is the document I sent them:

Speedway Gasket Set Issues.pdf

[russcc]

Thank you Bored & Stroked. I will get Best Gaskets. That's the last thing I need at this point is gasket problem.