Everyone I have heard about using these gaskets (myself included) had to buy 2 sets, take the good bottom gaskets out of each set and return the defective top gaskets as a set. I agree that I would use Impala gaskets next time. BTW - after I torqued the heads I was able to get a .030" feeler gauge between the head and block. Don't think they are really .026" as advertised.

 

the black stuff came off on my gaskets too..and its fine..i have about 300 miles on my car..and i tore alot of that black **** off and theres no leaks..and I beat on the car alot..so..they dont really need the coating..as long as the firerings are intact.

 

......Yea, If just some of the black coloring comes off then it "can" end up being alright... but many guys Including myself have had more than just some of the black coloring come off....Several of the chunks that came off mine were pieces several thousanths thick, some of which was right around the water jacket holes....it was like the shrinkwrap they used melted right into the head gaskets in certain areas.............either way you cut it, head gaskets should be as flat and as perfect as possible..........and these are a proven crapshoot..........

 

Shame that they will keep selling all the packages that they produced that will damage the gasket when opened instead of pulling those from the shelfs and replacing them with the 'fixed' packaging. Its all about the $$$ I guess.

 

The guy on the phone was like "yah they keep setting the machine to the wrong tolerance"...

Make no mistake, they're not "fixing" the problem by any means.

Anywho, I paid out the *** to get another set here from Summit for tomorrow.

 

Got my overnightted Mr. Gaskets this morning.. now I have one good pair out of the two bottom ones.

The top one I pulled out of that package were just as bad.. sat in the freezer for 3 hours.

 

mr gasket's intake gaskets suck too, I'll never buy their products again.

 

So what's the most recent work on these things? Should I just go with some .028 GM Gaskets? I saw .021's at Summit too, wow thats thin...

-Dustin-

 

why are people still dealing with the mr. gasket 5716 head gasket when you can by the exact same thing through your napa dealer for half the price and the packaging is done correctly. The mr. gaskets 5716 is nothing more than a repackaged victor reinz 5898. If you look close the mr. gasket head gaskets have the victor reinz part no# (5898) and not there own 5716 no#. so save your self some time, money, and agravation and buy the victor reinz 5898's.

 

Considering that you are responding to a 3.5 year old thread, maybe they aren't...

 

How recently have you bought these from there? When I went to my local NAPA a month ago looking for these gaskets they informed me that NAPA hasn't carried Victor Reinz for a while now. I was lucky in that my machinist uses
Victor gaskets so he got them for me, but I had a heck of a time finding them from a reputable source before I knew that.

 

Old thread, but NAPA didn't carry them when I wanted them last year, either. Got them from Autozone for pretty cheap and had ZERO problems with the packaging.

 

This gasket issue should be a sticky. Do what everyone else does when a company sells defective products even after being told about it, post it on every popular car site you can think of and maybe even Twitter a complaint.