I'm probably going to do quite a bit of work to my '72 this year, and was hoping to get some decent gaskets for the thing. I pulled the heads last year and put new head and rocker cover gaskets in it, and the head gaskets I pulled out had a metal ring around the edge of the combustion chamber, but the factory gaskets I put in didn't. Just wondering if some of the non-Moco gaskets are more reliable and if so where do you order yours from?

 

I haven't had to use them yet but a lot of my friends swear by the cometic gaskets their a little more expensive but suppose to be a better seal.

 

almost sounds like you had cometic gaskets in there. i just did mine last month, used cometic, and they are a metal gasket, with a ring around the bore. so far they work great.

 

James fire ring head gaskets are very good.

dave

 

More important than the gasket you use is the condition of the heads. On older shovels and pans, the headbolt insert has a tendancy to pull out. This creates an uneven surface leading to a blown gasket. If this is your problem you can lap the head down or counter bore the bolt hole to correct it.

 

Just bought a WCC rigid with a 103" shovel. Head gaskets blown and I doing a top end. The old owner had a shop rebuild the motor and they had to enlarge the opening of the gasket so it would fit the jug. I contacted the shop that built the motor and they said that there were no companies offering a head gasket with an opening over the 3 and 13/16s.
so they cut the gasket a tad bigger. Is there a company that makes an oversized head gasket for this 103? And yes the big bore head gasket kit was too small.

 

D slat, James Gasket makes a complete top end Kit for about 45 to 50 bucks. Probably cheaper to buy the complete kit. They have the fire ring Gaskets that are better too. Make sure you ask about the fire rings, Because the older kits don't have them. I think there's an x or something at the end of the number meaning it's the updated kit.

 

Yep, Here's the proper kit number for james gasket JGI-17034-66-X

 

I was just wondering if the pricier gaskets are any more reliable, otherwise i'll just buy some cheap aftermarket paper gaskets.