MTFCA Forum

I'm installing a Prus head on my 26 roadster, and the copper head gaskets are all on back order. I talked to the folks at Snyders, they said there was a mistake in the last order they received, the head gaskets were for Model A, not Model T. When they caught the mistake, the factory had been shut down due to the corona virus. They expect to receive copper head gaskets in late June.

My options seem to be 1) use the steel head gasket (Lang's has them in stock), 2) use the silicon head gasket (also in stock, but previous forum posts lead me to believe this isn't a good option, or 3) try to re-use my copper head gasket.

What suggestions do you have?

Have you tried calling Best Gasket?

Try Antique Auto Ranch in Spokane, they have the copper gasket with the black core.

Rick

The same thing happened to me so I got on EBAY and found Mac's had them. That was a couple of weeks ago and they showed several in stock. I had never ordered from them before and have seen them get beat up in some forums so after I hit the buy it now button I called them to confirm that it was in stock. No problems, got it a couple of days later. Art

I called Mac's, they have run out of them too. Antique Auto Ranch is now only open on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I will have to wait to call them.

What suggestions do you have?

Call other dealers and see if one of them has it in stock.

Lang's, Bob's, Snyders, Birdhaven, and Mac were all out when I was looking a week or so ago.
if you find one, PM me !

You may end up having to anneal it and re-use it... depends if it's solid copper or composite. You can't re-anneal composites, but you can if they're solids.

Heat the gasket up to red, then quench it - exactly the opposite of steel, quenching copper will re-soften it.

I have three hanging in my garage. Check your email and call me. Don

Susanne wrote: ↑

Fri May 15, 2020 5:39 pm

Heat the gasket up to red, then quench it - exactly the opposite of steel, quenching copper will re-soften it.

With copper whether you quench it or leave it to air cool the result will be the same.

Try Olson Gaskets in Port Orchard, WA.

OK
I'll bite: Who here is really using a solid copper head gasket on a stock T engine? Why?

I think the only reason to use a solid copper gasket Scott would be to compensate for super over size valves, which really from just my experience does not perform well. To much restriction in the exit/entrance ports.

Just my $0.03 worth,

Hank

When I started making solid copper gaskets 10+ years ago... it was because I was running 1.720” diameter intake valves in a flathead, and reshaping a copper clad gasket is a real bugger. At that time there was a few OHV guys that were lookin for a stronger gasket, and the 4 valve RAJO crowd was plain out of luck.

I warned everyone who bought one of my gaskets that solid copper was only the best option when there were no other options. I ran a .035” solid copper flat head gasket for almost 10 years with no issues, and never had to remove the head because of gasket related issues.

Annealing does not require heating “red hot”, but simply warm enough to burn off the ink from a Sharpie marker. And air quench is adequate to anneal material this thin. Water quenching and overheating can add unwanted distortion to the gasket as it will be quite soft when annealed and darn near playdough when red hot.

I now run the steel fire ring gaskets with the silicone overlay as they are a piece of cake to reshape the fire ring. I simply remove the fire ring, trim with tin snips, reshape the fire ring to a profile pattern I created, and gently reinstall into the gasket and crimp flat. They crush to about .060” when torqued, which lowered my compression slightly, and was a good thing

BINGO Kevin!

Kevin, Ive never heard it explained this well or this easily... you, sir, rock, and this needs to go in the T annals of knowledge. I was always taught to bring it until the copper glows dull red and quench it fast (and it works) but if the burned sharpie works, that is huge... thank you!!!

so for the future we should all be maintaining a stock of toilet paper, 16 gauge shotgun shells (mostly all I shoot and currently out of stock a lot of places), and copper head gaskets.

I may switch from hoarder to prepper yet.

As usual, I learned something new on the forum today. I didn't know there were solid copper gaskets, I was looking for a copper clad gasket.

Steve Jelf just doubled the number of suppliers I knew about.

I talked to Don today and he is going to set me up with one of his spares, so I hope to be back on the road soon, and am eager to try out the Prus head but running up the long hill I live on.

Try gaslight Auto parts in Urbana Ohio I get a lot of parts hair that the other dealer say they're out of 800-242-6491

Further to Kelvin’s posting I did a run of solid copper laser cut gaskets for the 4 valve Rajo and also for the Prus head for over size valves. With the right gasket sealer on a perfectly machined deck no problems.

Recently I installed my 8 valve Roof (Laurel model 40) reusing a 30 year old used steel gasket. I’ve done a couple of run tests (with the water jacket full of water) with no problems