Sealing Ring on Deck.. Now need to find a head gasket.

[dlafont]

I just bought a shortblock and found that it looks like there is a wire ring pressed into the deck of the block.. Have anybody seen this before? I have heard of grooves milled for fire ring in the heads but I havent seen a ring in embedded in the deck of the block before.

Trying to find head gaskets that would work. Any suggestions?

The wire ring is 13-15 thou above the deck.

 

[bison]

Copper will work but the heads need to have a shallow receiver groove

 

[dlafont]

How shallow should the groove be? Same as height of the ring? (13-15 thou)

Also.. Has anybody seen this before?

 

[bison]

How shallow should the groove be? Same as height of the ring? (13-15 thou) Also.. Has anybody seen this before?

Ill have to check a set of heads. I cant remember exactly but the groove in the head needs to be wider. I used dowel pins i made in a lathe to keep the heads from floaing around like they do on the stock dowels so the ring in the block was centered with the groove in the head. Ive seen it plenty of times. Ive done it. Every top fuel engine is sealed this way

 

[dlafont]

I checked with the guy I bought the shortblock off of and he verified that the GN1 heads that were on it didn't have any groove milled into the heads. It appears that the groove probably not necessary. It seems that the ring might just squish into the copper HG when torqued down to provide the seal. I guess I just need to pick the right copper HG then. So... What would be the correct one for a 4.1 with a 4" bore?

 

[Chuck Leeper]

My $.02...

About all that o'ring does, is move the "fuse" from the head gasket to the crank... Or, in the case of the block being a 4.1, probably a combo of crank and block...B4 I spent any $$, I'd have that block Zyglo'd or Magnafluxed....

Back under my pile of junk V-sicks blocks....

 

[dlafont]

Actually this block is build quite stout... Probably the best built one I've seen..

It's a 291 block with all the mods done.. It's got an RJC Girdle, K1 H beam rods, Forged Steel Crank (Eagle I think... Just doing the dissasembly now), JE forged pistons. It's already seen 25 passes at sub 10 seconds and is probably capable of high 9's. I'm just pulling it apart for a freshen up and everything looks pristene.. bearings, rings, crank are almost perfect.. Piston tops just needed a wipe and scotchbright and they look like they are new. The tune must have been almost perfect!

 

[KWIKR 1]

The tune on this engine was done by Anderson Performance (95 Ib injectors/Classic FAST DFI). according to the fellow I purchased the car that engine came from . It is a very nicely built 4.1 . I was more than happy to put it in Don's capable hands .