Hey guess, well I got the 10th Anniversary torn back down again, sold the mazdaspeed turbo setup and now i'm ready to go standalone and GT2860RS. I'll be running 12 psi in this setup, but I have to do some 60,000 mile maintanience first. Well for starters, my head gasket was leaking coolant somewhere so I got the head yanked off the engine I been considering flyin miatas' gasket set, but I wanted to see if any of you guys have a more recommendable option or affordable option... I somehow got the idea when it comes to head gaskets, it probably wouldn't be a could idea to go 3rd party supplier... I probably should just stick to mazda stuff. So what do yall think?

 

OEM OR BUST.... ask me how I know.

 

of course I trust a respectable brand such as felpro as well

 

I've made the mistake of trusting felpro too many times to ever trust them again. This is with both my miata and integra. An old friend of mine (a mechanic) told me he swore by felpro. So i've given them 3rd, 4th and 5th chances hoping I just had bad luck. I'll not give them a chance ever again.

As stated, OEM or bust.

 

Okay, how do you know? Plus I considered going to head studs vs head bolts, but for the most part my searching the forums pretty much tells me it only makes since if you plan to pull the head off and on multiple times or your running an extremely high output engine...

 

I'm sure he knows because he's made the mistake of trusting something other than OEM in a very important spot (such as a radial seal) and had it fail horribly.

What is the price difference between studs and new OEM bolts?

 

If I recall well, all those Failpro are cardboard on a metal frame, the original one is four-layer metal gasket.

Not to brag or anything, but just my experience. On my setup, ran a T3/T4 .50 trim at 15 psi, 550 cc so to raise compression two layers were removed from the OEM metal headgasket. Always ran fine with no coolant leaking with stock bolts.

Before turbo, the car had the two layer metal gasket for about 4 to 5 years when I was N/A.

 

My ebay one, i forget, something japanese sounding, has been on there for 5 years, and is pretty strong, knock on wood. It is the multi layer steel. The valve cover sucked wanger though.

 

sounds like i'm going to use factory components, I may reuse my headbolts as most people seem to agree its unnecessarily to replace with studs if i'm only running 12 psi...

 

Yes but I have heard that you should never reuse head bolts. This is why headstuds are still very attractive even if you're not running macho power. They are reusable.

 

Some head bolts (mostly older American V6s and V8s) are torque-to-yield (TTY). These cannot be reused.

Miata bolts are not TTY, and can be reused. The factory service manual is quite explicit about what fasteners must be replaced, and they do not indicate that for head bolts.

--Ian

 

re use head bolts, spend the money on ARP connecting rod cap bolts.

 

Thanks for the wrinkle. That does sound familiar now that I think about it. Just never absorbed it I guess.

 

Man just learned something from a Newby

 

post count =/= knowledge

 

Pretty much anything German is also TTY and non-reusable. I am surprised that the Miata would be different but I don't really know anything about Japanese engines.

Personally I would get new ones... I also never reuse brake or suspension bolts.