It's not blown up until:
(1) you have a bigger pile of parts to take to scrap than salvageable parts
-or-
(2) there are parts hanging out of the side of the block
1011 is a good gasket but like any other head gasket, they're not indestructible. I used them for everything and still use them. I'd rather a gasket fail than a piston crown or cylinder wall. Kind of like a fuse. Would rather see the fuse fail than the wire(s). I've even used 1011's (1's and 2's) in turbo, blower, and nitrous applications-one of them severely overboosted (failed WG) and only one time had a gasket fail. Saved the engine when the gasket let go. Replaced gasket, pounded on it for another few years and the cylinder wall blew out (quarter sized hole in #6 cyl wall) but gasket did not fail.
Trick to keeping gaskets in is the TUNE. Little too much timing and they'll burn. Lean and they'll burn. Overheat and they'll burn sometimes. Also having a CLEAN and flat mating surface is paramount, as is fasteners that do their job. Had a friend of mine who couldn't figure out why he was busting gaskets in a 440" RB Mopar and as I was helping him R&R the head, I noticed that some of the bolts were longer than the others. Found out that some of them were bottoming out in the block causing incomplete clamp. Also had a 351w once that I was putting together that had the wrong head bolts-the shouldered part of the bolt was bottoming against the block threads before the head of the bolt was against the cylinder head. All 20 were like that-and they came from a well-known aftermarket supplier of fasteners and were all the correct part number.
Got to watch out for the little stuff.
(1) you have a bigger pile of parts to take to scrap than salvageable parts
-or-
(2) there are parts hanging out of the side of the block
1011 is a good gasket but like any other head gasket, they're not indestructible. I used them for everything and still use them. I'd rather a gasket fail than a piston crown or cylinder wall. Kind of like a fuse. Would rather see the fuse fail than the wire(s). I've even used 1011's (1's and 2's) in turbo, blower, and nitrous applications-one of them severely overboosted (failed WG) and only one time had a gasket fail. Saved the engine when the gasket let go. Replaced gasket, pounded on it for another few years and the cylinder wall blew out (quarter sized hole in #6 cyl wall) but gasket did not fail.
Trick to keeping gaskets in is the TUNE. Little too much timing and they'll burn. Lean and they'll burn. Overheat and they'll burn sometimes. Also having a CLEAN and flat mating surface is paramount, as is fasteners that do their job. Had a friend of mine who couldn't figure out why he was busting gaskets in a 440" RB Mopar and as I was helping him R&R the head, I noticed that some of the bolts were longer than the others. Found out that some of them were bottoming out in the block causing incomplete clamp. Also had a 351w once that I was putting together that had the wrong head bolts-the shouldered part of the bolt was bottoming against the block threads before the head of the bolt was against the cylinder head. All 20 were like that-and they came from a well-known aftermarket supplier of fasteners and were all the correct part number.
Got to watch out for the little stuff.