Can Head gaskets be reused ?

[Katmandu]

I have an engine here in my garage that I bolted a set of heads on. The engine was never finished being built and has never been run.

I decided I want to keep the heads from it for another car I just bought.

Can I reuse the head gaskets from the engine that was never run ?

 

[At1Maverick69]

not sure if the other guys are gonna agree with me, but I would't do it, for the simple fact that it has already been crushed. it might leak and you'd prolly have to do the job twice. that's my opinion..

 

[JChalfan]

I'm with Maverick...

It might work, but there's a good chance you'd end up putting new head gaskets on it down the road. I'd rather spend the $$$ up front for some new gaskets and know it's done right.

I've done things the cheap way a bunch of times, and usually it comes back and bites me in the ass down the road.

Jeff

 

[robertdale]

I've done it before and has worked fine for 70 thousand miles. If you can afford new gaskets then I would get them if not then reuse the ones you have.

 

[Snikt89GT]

For something as important as that I would buy new gaskets every time I had the chance.

 

[Deleted member 87397]

I'd buy the new ones. The other ones are probably okay, but why risk having to tear the whole thing down again changing them out if they leak? A new set of gaskets is a small price to pay to save yourself 10 hours of labor down the road.