Well I run them on mine and it's street car w/ a lot of boost. No problems and I'm running a conservative tune VERY conservative. Once I install the meth I'll tune it accordingly and get the most out of it but still keep is safe. No leaks of any kind even when cold. Overkill? Yes, but me personally I like overkill.

 

I have a pair of S.C.E. Titan ICS head gaskets on my 8/71 555ci
BBC for the last 3 years with no problems. They are copper embosed with print o seal for the water jackets. The ICS term
means it has a O ring built in to the gasket they work great.
I am not shure of a LT1 application.

 

Do you have a web address for CV products? I am interested in this spray coating.

 

I ran the SCE Titan ICS gaskets on my turbo setup. Ran 14psi for a few months, then turned it up to 18psi and drove it like that until I pulled the turbo stuff off recently (opti rotor failure).

The combustion seal with those gaskets is wonderful, but I did have coolant leaks on the first fire-up. I just tossed a bottle of alumaseal in there and heat cycled it to clear that up.

 

http://www.cvproducts.com/cv/default.aspx

I think you need to find a dealer, don't think you can buy directly from them unless your a vendor

 

See, that's the issue though. Is it really "overkill"... or is it just a wash?

Unless you go really exotic with the O-ring system like Moran, I question wether o-ringing is really any better than a flush-fit gasket design. It would seem that you sacrifice clamping pressure in non-o-ringed gasket surface, for an increased pressure at the area with the o-ring itself. Understanding the need for gaskets to have even clamping pressure for ultimate fit/finish, I'm curious if successful engines with o-rings survive because of them, or inspite of them. Adding a stress riser and pinning your sealing hopes on a very narrow band (the o-ring) verses a large surface area of a properly clamped flat gasket is interesting.

We've all seen massive-power engines using both engine set ups, so my gut feeling is that the KISS principle should trump any gains you hope to make unless you KNOW for a fact that a properly tightened flat gasket just can't possibily hold up to the pressures your asking it to (i.e. you're using a 4-bolt per cylinder design like Ford or LSx engines had for years, or the pressures, temperatures, and thermal expansion you're seeing make standard gaskets just not possible).

I'm not sure anyone's shown a real good reason to involve extra cost and possible complications by o-ringing under the 4-digit hp level in SBC/LT1 engines (or any other iron-block with 5-bolts per cylinder).

 

Just a questioned, My block is O-ringed. the guy that ran it before me had AFRs and around 8.8comp. He ran 28 #s of boost before it let go. Can you run more boost if the block is o-ringed? Like as in compaired to a non oringed block can I run a couple more #s safely. I only plan on around 10-12psi pump gas with Meth at 9.7:1.

Jay

 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

I think the boost level is less important compared to the hp numbers you're putting down, and what kind of blower/turbo you're using to get there.

O-rings and gaskets both fail for the same reason... too much combustion chamber pressure. Boost only measures how backed up the intake manifold is... not nessesarily the pressure in the cylinder near TDC. Detonation spikes this pressure to also 10,000psi from estimates I've read... which is why it shatters so many engines. With detonation I doubt either method of sealing will survive (unless you lose a ring land ).

Seeing how you have AFR's I'm assuming there not the baby size 195s... If he was running 28psi on a V8 with AFRs, he must have been well over 800hp (wild guess)... This is a far cry from running half the boost (probably about 1/3rd less air in the cylinders = ~1/3 less hp/pressure).

If an engine is running without detonation/knock I can't imagine either method being a problem in your case. I've heard the "o-rings are better" speeches for years, but continue to see plain FelPro and multi-layer gaskets survive very large numbers on V8's without o-rings. The Buick V6 guys are all about orings, as are some die-hard segments of the turbo-4 communities, but to get similar hp numbers as a V8 they need to survive MUCH higher pressures than we do. If done right they "may" help, but I wouldn't consider them a cure-all to detonation or ultra-high cylinder pressures... ring packs, pistons, and valves still hate overheated or over-pressured chambers.

You wouldn't happen to have any pics or details about his engien "letting go" would you? hp numbers? was there detonation? did an o-ring fail or was it a ring/piston ring land? just curious

 

Actually I have LE2's there was AFRs one it before my buddy bought the shortblock. Also it was only a 2bolt main running 28psi!!! It is now a splayed 4 bolt main. The guy actually ovaled one of the cylenders I guess, but it was able to be saved by honing and new rings

 

Yeah, with 12psi through tighter ports you're probably not at the level a V8 needs to start worrying about o-ringing... but then again, I don't honstly know just where that threshold is (or if it even exists for such a large displacement engine). I wouldn't count on it giving you any more or less hp though... this doesn't sound like an application where normal flat gaskets would have any problems.