Can a head gasket be re-used??

[Chietala]

Torqued the heads down last night.
Need to take them off for some machine work.
Can the same head gaskets be re-used?
Motor is on a stand, never been started.

Used basic felpro gasket.

 

[Aryan15]

Not worth the risk.

 

[90GTSilverStang]

Its not worth reusing the used gaskets

 

[bullitstang1313]

Agree, definately not worth the risk. Just do yourself a favor and buy new ones now instead of hoping the old ones don't fail. What kind of head bolts you using? The stock bolts are torque to yield so you might not want to reuse those either.

 

[86bluecobra]

OK so the answer is no. Have people gone ahead and done it and gotten away with it yes.

 

[dans89lx]

OK so the answer is no. Have people gone ahead and done it and gotten away with it yes.

ive seen people do it...but hell, some of the old black guys out here will take a 350 apart to rebuild and reuse head gaskets and put the whole thing back together with an impact gun too and they seem to turn out some of the baddest friggin junk yard cars ive ever seen...would i do it...no, not worth it for such a small thing to have to go back n do it again...have i seen it done...several times

 

[86bluecobra]

LOL ok i'm not as bad as the guy with the impact gun but i am guilty of reusing a head gasket. But i would hate to recomend to do it because as already stated it sucks to have to tear the top end down again to redo the job you should have done right.

 

[Roland69]

done it and seen it done but not worth it if you can buy a new set...maby take them back and say they didn't fit good or something

 

[86bluecobra]

done it and seen it done but not worth it if you can buy a new set...maby take them back and say they didn't fit good or something

lol yikes that would suck for the next guy.

 

[Roland69]

I don't think they would resell them if they were defective

 

[riverviewnative]

It depends on the quality of the gasket and the amount of cylinder pressure that you will have. I have done it on stock motors by spraying them with that bronze stuff.

 

[C6AE]

lol yikes that would suck for the next guy.

+1

 

[NKau]

done it and seen it done but not worth it if you can buy a new set...maby take them back and say they didn't fit good or something

No need to be a scumbag. They are cheap (in the grand scheme of things). As others have said, just buy new ones.

 

[Roland69]

working in a shop we can send things back defective and they don't get resold