i am going to be pulling my heads off to take a peek at the cylinders to see if i should build now or if i can wait. plus i suspect a bad head gasket anyways. my question is this. is it worth it to put the .026 gaskets on? does anybody know what this will make my compression ratio? motor is stock other than cam. is there any power benefits to the thinner gaskets? i found a bunch of contradicting info when i searched so i figured i would post my own thread.

thanks

steve

 

I believe the factory LT1 head gasket is .051", so the .026" gasket will be .025" thinner. And, every .006" equals about 1cc, therefore, the .026" gasket reduces chamber volume by 4cc. That would place your compression around 10.9-1. If you're running normally aspirated (NA) more compression can add HP! It may also require a minor change in tuning for the increased compression.

 

I doubt it will require a tune, but it wouldn't hurt to get one.

As for adding .4 compression, that is not going to add any horsepower. Maybe 3 hp at the flywheel, which will be about 1 at the wheels.

 

would my cam benefit from the added compression any? or is it just not worth the time? maybe ill just run a compression test or a leak down or something instead of pulling the heads off to check for blown gasket. or i could take the heads off and have them done in the process? hmmmm. the possibilities are endless.