I was wondering if any zilla owners know what the stock head gasket thickness may be. I am thinking of making my own copper gaskets on a water jet and am wondering how thick to start with. Also does anyone have any experience running copper only gaskets? Should be a nice way to bump up the compression without shaving the head. Thanks, Karl

 

the stock thickness is .024 . sounds like a neat idea !!!

 

We tried Tudor's no blow head gasket (solid copper). You have to use a sealer (Ultra gray is what he recommends) on it to seal the water passages. Lasted about 30 minutes of run time, started leaking coolant.

 

truckracer , i was woundering how well those worked . im running the cool head now . it has orings for the head gasket . ive had no prob with it .

 

Truckracer, thanks for the info, I am not familiar with the ultra gray product but have seen the permatex spray on copper used to seal up heads on 250r's. Did the coolant leak out or in? Maybe this isn't worth my time after all. Karl

 

I tried those copper gasket's before,and the spray on copper sealer,didn't work,leaked all over after a short time running.Went back to the stock head gasket,Later was told you have to bake them at 450 deg in the oven for 20 min to aneal the copper.(soften it up)I still have the copper gasket's,in a box.

 

the ultra gray is a specially designed for Japanese motorcylce motors. Just thought i would let you guys know what the purpose of the ultra gray is

 

It still won't work,you have to anneal the copper fisrt.then maybe the sealer will work.

 

The stock suzy gasket MIGHT be .024".... I'm holding a cometic gasket, and this thing is at least .040"
(WAY to f-king thick IMO)

I've tried multiple times to make the Tudors copper gasket seal... using 3 bond, ultra grey, super dooper ukkum pucky, permatex spray copper.... and even tried 'baking' the gasket too... In fact... wasted 2 days of my dune vacation last summer monkeying around with it.

If both mating surfaces aren't true (WIthin fairly close tolerance of each other) the copper gasket won't work.
Such is the case with my motor.... the head was recently milled, so I know it's flat... but the jug isn't.. at least it isn't flat enough to get the harder copper to seal.

O-rings are the answer! Gain compression, no leaks, and reuseable..

 

Where do you get the o-rings for the head? (or new head?)