OK, this question goes out to all those experienced motor-heads that have been building/working on engines for years:

Would copper gaskets be good for my intake manifolds?

I was telling a friend about some of my troubles with my intake manifolds, and how I blew out the cork gaskets. He offered to make me a custom set of copper gaskets. He said they would be guaranteed not to blow out. (Assuming that I can get the manifolds torqued down properly without breaking the bolts.)

Does that make sense to you guys? Are copper gaskets better than cork/rubber?

Is $40 too much for a pair of copper gaskets?

What thickness do I tell him to make them? The same thickness as the stock gaskets?

 

WHY COPPER? HERE'S WHY!

1. LONGER LASTING ( WON'T DRY ROT )
2. DURABLE
3. RE-USABLE
4. INCREASE OR DECREASE YOUR HORSE POWER

Good Luck

 

...................answered my own question.............lol

 

Tom - Copper and aluminum when in contact with one another are known to cause galvanic corrosion. The aluminum ends up being the loser of the two dissimilar metals.
Just something to consider.

 

That was the answer to my own question....in the olden days Tom, it was cast iron to cast iron...in today's builds, it is aluminum to aluminum....softer metals if you will. You can't torque aluminum like you can a cast iron block...and aluminum is finicky about what it likes to mate to...cork is cheap, as I was told by Rudy, and use a new set each time....

 

Ruby will know if this is an issue!!!

 

Ruby is the anwer to your dreams....right Ruby....Ruby is such a gem...

 

Doc you just set yourself for a good roasting with that comment... But I will restrain myself

 

You do need an electrolyte to start any corrosion, in dry conditions you are OK.
Salt spray and your engine will disappear.
What about the copper crush washers?

 

Time to quit trying to out think the Mercedes Benz engineers don't ya think?

 

Montana, if we did that, we'd all still be driving around in stock SRTs.

 

You are absolutely correct...you need moisture. Would a seepy gasket allow enough moisture to start the corrosion process, probably not. But is it worth risking?

 

I will get him out of the closet. And it won't be the first time he has roasted me....lol

 

Tom, just think a bunch of realitivly quick, dependable SRT's running around.
I give creadit where due but I hope you don't for a moment think there is anyone on this forum that understands or is aware of modifications of this engine as well as it's engineers.

 

You have to remember that the engineers are constrained by the accountants. Just because the engineers know the best way to design/build the engine does not mean they are allowed do. I do not know if copper is a good idea or not but you can bet if there is a choice between 2 gaskets and gasket a) is good enough and costs $0.50 and gasket b) is 10x better but costs $1.50 you can bet that gasket a) is going to be used on the car.

 

Oh, how contrary to your statement is, Mercedes Benz.
Charcoal filters for interior compartment?
Think about it...

 

Tom, just watched a segment on copper gaskets at the ZMAX Drags on tv. That is what they use on thoes monster hp engines. Said they use different thickness copper gaskets to fine tune depending on conditions and heat. Said they could change the compression with different thickness copper gaskets. Looked like copper to aluminum but how long are they there between tweaks and rebuilds?

 

I think Tom was referring to using copper gaskets for the intake plenums, and you guys are talking about head gaskets.

 

You are right Tuna, just thought Tom may find the ZMAX interview interesting.

 

I was going to post something similar...I was watching the 4-wide national yesterday and thought the segment on the copper gaskets was very interesting...and even more interesting was founding out what happens when the seal is broken on those bad boys....eeek.