Just as the title says, what are the best head gaskets to use on the LT1 motors? Don't forget part #s if possible!

I myself plan on racing, and later supercharging my motor.

(Didn't find similar post when i did several searches)

 

What are your needs. Best would probably be Cometics but they NEED a perfect finish on the head and block. The Mr. Gaskets are the thinnest which has some benifits but they have some QC issues with packaging making them a bit of a hassle to get two good gaskets. b-body gaskets are thin and sturdy but not really meant for aluminum. That brings us to the way too think Felpros and stock aluminum head gaskets which cost a lot and are again too thick. The Felpros you most likely need a zero deck to get good quench and the stockers you would need the piston above the deck, LT4 gaskets are worse yet.

 

Well, i used the felpro ones once. They seem'd ok .. but i thought maybe there are better out there that didn't require alot of work.

I just have the stock heads.

 

For stock heads many of us go with the Mr. Gasket 5716 it is .026 as opposed to the .039 Felpro and the .049 stock so it can offer a compression bump and improves quench but unless you got a factory freak with say a .015 deck quench will still be a bit high. From my reading it seems factory deck is usually more like .025. The compression bump may sound contrary to boost goals but good quench can make high compression less detonation prone.

The downside with these gaskets is they have a tendancy to stick to the packaging so what many of us end up having to do is order a set then call if one gets damaged taking it out of the package then the vendor will send you a second set and have you take one good one from there and send the two bad ones(one from each package) back. PITA I know.

I would love to run Cometics being as they are reusable and all and are available .027 BUT like I said they need a perfect finish and a flat surface, they are VERY strong but not forgiving enough to trust 100K mile factory surfaces.