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hello guys

i want to put the head on my 235 and i have a gasket with one metal side and it says apply copper saelant on it ?
i bought it by jim carter trucks as a engine gasket set .
is it usual to apply any sealant on a head gasket ?
does anybody has a idea ?
thanks anyway

Not on newer style gaskets in the "old" days that was common to have copper head gaskets We would put a lite oil on the gasket to help it move during install.You must have an older style .

Pete

I've done it many times, but it has been a few years since I did it last.
It was a spray copper sealant I used.

Dan

I have often used the spray copper sealant (as glasman describes) on 235/261 head gaskets.

I have often used the spray copper sealant (as glasman describes) on 235/261 head gaskets.

I think every copper face head gasket I ever installed I sprayed with silver/aluminum rattle can paint.

CRC makes “K&W” a copper head gasket compound in a spray can that we always used on composite gaskets. Also Permatex makes “copper Spray-A-Gasket” Hi-Temp that most of the automotive stores stock. Any NAPA or other big box auto parts or Farm supply should have one of them on their shelf. Years ago before everything was put in rattle cans we used to sell the brush can of copper coat.

Even that thin coat of copper helps transfer the heat just like it does in your wife’s Revereware.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

thanks for reply now i understand it is for heat transfer not for sealing .
thanks for explaining

greetz
aj

Don't want to screw up the thinking on this subject aj, so lets try to make it completely clear. The copper powder in the compound does help transfer the heat, but these materials are most definitly sealers. They "seal" tiny imperfections such as nicks, scratches or machine tool marks. Most of the sealing compounds without metallic fillers such as Permatex #1,#2 or High Tack are also good to about 500° so I would guess that the carriers in the copper sealers are probably quite similar to the non-metallic compounds. The powdered copper also works as an anti-seize between similar metals when assembling threaded fasteners and connections but it’s compounded primarily as a sealer, not a lubricant. Since I mentioned the anti-seize properties I might mention that the old standby, Locktite Anti-Seize with the aluminum powder is primarily a lubricant and not designed for use as a sealer.

Like Pete already pointed out the copper head compounds also allows the surfaces to move a little when installing and torquing down the head and over the life of the engine as it goes thru its heating and cooling cycles.

The absolute best composite head gaskets in my opinion are the ones that are sheathed in copper because of the heat transfer and the ability of the soft copper to conform to minor imperfections, but I haven’t seen one of those in years. All of the ones in the kits now days are sheathed in steel which doesn’t transfer heat all that well and really isn’t the best material for a metal to metal seal, hence, all the more reason to use the Copper bearing Sealers.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL