Source for copper gaskets

[richarde]

Hi - I'm in the process of rebuilding an LT5 engine in the UK that has had plenum and injector housing porting plus a little porting to the heads to match the injector housing ports. The engine has been fitted with copper gaskets between the plenum and injector housings and injector housings to cylinder heads. I realise that it may possible to re-use copper gaskets provided that they are annealed, however, I wish to buy new. Does anyone know of a good source? The injector housing to head gasket thickness is 0.030".
Thanks

[Paul Workman]

Hi - I'm in the process of rebuilding an LT5 engine in the UK that has had plenum and injector housing porting plus a little porting to the heads to match the injector housing ports. The engine has been fitted with copper gaskets between the plenum and injector housings and injector housings to cylinder heads. I realise that it may possible to re-use copper gaskets provided that they are annealed, however, I wish to buy new. Does anyone know of a good source? The injector housing to head gasket thickness is 0.030".
Thanks

Copper? Meh. Jerry is the "goto" source. Jerry's Gaskets.com can supply you with gaskets most of us have been using successfully to the exclusion of most others, no? Good luck!

[GOLDCYLON]

Hi - I'm in the process of rebuilding an LT5 engine in the UK that has had plenum and injector housing porting plus a little porting to the heads to match the injector housing ports. The engine has been fitted with copper gaskets between the plenum and injector housings and injector housings to cylinder heads. I realise that it may possible to re-use copper gaskets provided that they are annealed, however, I wish to buy new. Does anyone know of a good source? The injector housing to head gasket thickness is 0.030".
Thanks

Copper no. If you had a stock non ported motor Jerry’s gaskets make a fine head gasket. For a ported motor I would suggest MLS Cometic gaskets that Mr Haibeck sells. GC

Jerry’s web info is posted in Paul’s thread and Marc’s is www.zr1specialist.com

[A26B]

Hi - I'm in the process of rebuilding an LT5 engine in the UK that has had plenum and injector housing porting plus a little porting to the heads to match the injector housing ports. The engine has been fitted with copper gaskets between the plenum and injector housings and injector housings to cylinder heads. I realise that it may possible to re-use copper gaskets provided that they are annealed, however, I wish to buy new. Does anyone know of a good source? The injector housing to head gasket thickness is 0.030".
Thanks

Richarde,

Jerrys Gaskets are manufactured with port sizing already enlarged to work with ported intake plenum and injector Housings. You can read more by following the link below.

Copper is good for sealing combustion pressure in certain head gasket applications which use high clamping force, but it's not good for sealing coolant due to it's inability to conform to minor imperfections & unconformities of the mating surfaces.

I would not recommend copper for sealing the plenum or injector housings. Both of those components have coolant passages and the clamping force is not sufficient to extrude the copper. Copper also has high thermal conductivity. That may be good for head gaskets but is not desirable in the intake. The opposite effect, insulation against heat transfer, is desirable.

Plenum Gaskets
https://www.jerrysgaskets.com/gasket-set-intake-plenum-3-64-90-95-7-5d3/

Injector Housing Gaskets
https://www.jerrysgaskets.com/gasket-set-fuel-injector-housing-90-95-7-5d4/

Jerry

[richarde]

Thanks very much for the replies. The plenum to injector housing ports have been opened right out to 39.5mm and siamesed by the previous owner. Siamesing the Jerrys Gaskets 37.5mm gasket by cutting out the center is pretty straightforward. However, trimming the gasket to suit the 39.5mm ports can obviously be done but is time consuming. Taking Jerry's comments on board regarding the use of copper gaskets, I guess that I'll have to start trimming, unless there is another alternative!
Thanks again for the replies.

[A26B]

Plenum Gasket; There is very little surface left to hold a gasket when the plenum porting is to the extent of 39.5mm and siamesed. It may be necessary to use an adhesive sealant to secure the gasket to one surface before assembly.

Injector Housing Gasket; The area is around the coolant port between the front two cylinders on each bank is a critical, due to the high differential pressures between coolant & intake port vacuum. Adhesive sealant is also recommended there, due to the narrow sealing surface remaining near the intake port.

Do you mind telling us more about the work performed on your engine and who did the build & tuning?

[richarde]

Thanks Jerry - You have hit the nail on the head!! I purchased the car in January of this year after the previous owner reported that it had suffered a head gasket failure on number 3 cylinder allowing water to enter the combustion chamber. I removed the engine and stripped it - on investigation, it was found that water had leaked past the copper injector housing gasket into the number 3 cylinder primary intake port, causing the combustion chamber to fill with water. The head gasket was fine. So your points regarding the doubtful use of copper gaskets on the LT5 intake system together with the potential sealing problems on ported injector housings were spot on!
So, rather than purchase replacement plenum and injector housings, I am looking for a solution which will allow me to use the ported plenum and housings. A good quality adhesive around the critical areas makes real good sense to me.
Incidentally, the car ran 172mph through the standing mile and 11.7 at 118 through the 1/4 mile. The heads had never been off the car. Other than the ported plenum and injector housings, it has Jeal headers, a Corsa exhaust plus recalibrated chip, aluminum SPEC flywheel and 4.10 rear gears. I am slowly working through the car, hoping to have it back on the road by June 2020.