The Guy in MY 99TA

I was thinking that since I am gunna pull the heads off to change the lifters(80K miles) that I could throw some different head gaskets and maybe some studs on. BUT I was wondering if I could run a little bit thicker headgasket which would put my pisto-valve clearance a little further away.

This is just an idea for now.

Josh S.

SPANKY LS1

iTrader: (24)

You can do that, but it will affect power. I asked Jason at TR about this for a buddy of mine at work who wanted to run this cam with heads that had been milled (.005 for cleanup only), and he said you'd lose signifigant power in doing this, something about the quench area and the chamber swirl. Maybe someone who can better explain it will chime in, though.

Shawn

The Guy in MY 99TA

and jason would be online ANY other time but now lol

35th SS

iTrader: (2)

mine is milled for clean up only @.003.wondering if Id be safe to use the trex.what you guys think?thanks.

Spinmonster

Sup guys....
The thicker gaskets cause a few issues to come up. The first is a loss of compression that does change significantly since the area inside the gasket bore is the size of the piston so CR drops faster.
Second, since you're increasing the vloume in the quench area, you risk serious detonation issues since a second flame front can travle toward the combustion mixture at a different time causing incorrect timing of ignition on two different ignition sources.
Third, as already mentioned there could be a significant alteration of combustion swirl as intended by the head design.
Flycutting to get the max depth of a thicker gasket really isn't that involved. The isky flycutting tool uses your head as the template to cut. The max thickness I know of is .078 and that is only .024 more distance from the piston. It will cost you 8-10 rwhp based on a 14rwhp/point in CR. I beleive that you can cut in .065 to the piston with the tool.

The Guy in MY 99TA

Where can I look at one of these fly cutting tools? I have heard of it being done in car but that seems to be a bitch... or I would think so at least.

Josh S.

The Guy in MY 99TA

TTT..... I want to know why the "swirl" would be effected in the combustion chamber? I can understand the detonation..... which I really don't see happening BUT it might be possible. I know the compression would be different but I was just wondering since I am gunna have to change the gaskets anyway to change the lifters. ---- car has 80K on the clock

Josh S.

SPANKY LS1

iTrader: (24)

I'll try and explain why I think the swirl will be affected. Picture the heart shaped combustion chamber. You can see how the air can swirl in there in a certain pattern. Now add a .010 (for an example of a .010 thicker gasket) void between your chamber and your piston/bore, but instead of being a continuance of the "heart shape" it is a 3.900 diameter circle. .010 may not seem like alot, but when I spoke to Lou at LG, he said to go with a certain thickness gasket, that a gasket .010 thicker could cost as many as 5-10 rwhp based on combos he has put together. (One of them being the 504rwhp H/C 346). I would call Jason at TR, Lou at LG, or Allan at FMS (or any experienced LS1 builder for that matter) and see what they say. Good luck, Shawn

J-Rod

.035-.040 quench. You'll leave power on the table if you fix PTV with a gasket and end up with too much quench area. Do it right....