I recently picked up a forged 383 short block and it is an o-ringed block.
What type of head gasket should I use with it? It's going to be a street car so it needs to be reliable, I'm only running 6 lbs of boost right now and may go up to around 15 at some point so the o-rings might be a little overkill.
Anyone have any experience with this kind of setup?

 

Pretty sure o-ringed blocks are meant to use copper head gaskets, and you can get them with a coating to help prevent coolant seepage. Most of us here don't use that kind of setup even for modest boost, though, but maybe someone else will chime in, otherwise, a quick search of the net may give you some pointers or go on some of the gasket manufacturers and see what they have to say about it.

 

If the o-ring groove is far enough out from the bore edge and the surface finish is good enough, I'd run an MLS gasket without the wire in place instead. If you're forced to utilize the o-ring, then you're best off with an SCE copper gasket with the sealing beads.

 

After doing a little research, I found the only company that makes a copper gasket with rubber coating for an lt1 is flatout. I also heard ford guys saying that they remove the stainless o-ring and replace it with copper and then file it down so it's flush with the block and then run a standard gasket.
I've read that copper gaskets have problems with coolant leaking into cylinders when the motor is cooling down.
I haven't seen much feedback on rubber coated copper gaskets, do they seal coolant good enough for street duty?
I'd prefer not to use a MLS gasket because I heard they are hard to seal unless the surface is very flat.
So what is the best option for a street car that won't see more than 15 lbs of boost and needs to be reliable for daily driving;
1. Rubber coated copper gaskets and stainless o-rings
2. MLS gasket with no o-rings or MLS gasket with copper o-rings filed flush with the block
3. A composition gasket like felpro 1074 or 9966pt with copper o-rings filed down to be flush with block

 

Yeah, that's my bad - I should have figured that the SCE gasket wasn't made for an LT1.

Yes, if they were made for this application, the SCE copper and Titan ICS gaskets with the rubber sealing bead work great on street engines. I don't use them anymore because we try to use MLS on everything now, but for a long time they were the best option. As for the Flatout gaskets with the rubber, I have read good things about them, but have not personally used them....sounds like that may be your best option, I don't like using composite gaskets with dissimilar block and head metals - they just don't last very long and chew up the surface of the aluminum heads.