I have ported 5.3 heads I want to put on my 98 LS1. They are 862 castings. I am not sure what year they are therefore I don't know what head gaskets or head bolts to get. Does it even matter? It seems like some head gaskets are for Ls1's in general, but others are year specific, 97-01 and 02-04. What is the difference? Also, head bolts from gm are year specific, does that matter? they are different lengths right? Can anyone help me finish this damn job? IM VERY FRUSTRATED

 

You should get the head bolts specific to your engine year i would guess and i think you can use stock head gaskets

 

I can use 98 LS1 head gaskets? summit says they are different than 02-04 gaskets.... I would like to use the graphite gaskets but they are on back order. So I want to use the 02-04 MLS gaskets that are .053" I want to stay as close to .050" as possible.

 

Well im not exactly sure but i know that i just used two of these stock gaskets for my 99 ls1

part number 12498543

They are supposedly supposed to work for both sides (or atleast thats what the guy at autozone said)

I wouldn't take my word for it yet though because im not sure if they even work

Let someone tell you with experience the right stuff

 

anyone?

 

My local NAPA carries Victor Rienz graphite gaskets, and there is a specific part number for left and right. I have used these quite a few times with no problems and they are rather inexpensive. See if one of your local autoparts has them.
As stated above you need to get the bolts for your year engine block. On the newer blocks(04 and up) all big bolts are the same length, while the older blocks have 8 long and 2 shorter bolts.