The most common problem with these cars is blowing head gaskets. The reason very simply is there are not enough head bolts to retain the head adequately under the extreme cylinder pressures that our Buicks produce.
There are many type of head gaskets that try to eliminate this problem. Under extreme cylinder pressure, three things can happen, the head can lift stretching the head bolts, the head can deflect or the block can deflect. In each case as soon as combustion gasses are blown by the fire ring the paper or graphite backing gets whittled away. This continues until there is no support for the fire ring the fire ring blows out. Even the wire lock style gaskets are susceptible to this flaw.
Back in the day, the factory GM 100% steel shim gaskets are the toughest most indestructible gaskets on the market. Now RJC Racing has improved on this design and improved the material to make the new RJC Bullet Proof head gaskets the ultimate head gasket available for the turbo charged Buick V6 engine. We make these gaskets from .017 thick 304 stainless steal then stamped with all the sealing ridges. the uncompressed thickness is .046. The end result of this makes for a super tough .035 installed thickness. This is around .015 thinner than the stock head gasket. This results in a slight bump in compression that really wakes up the motor and makes it spool the turbo much easier. The rise in compression over stock is around .4. So from the stock 8.5:1 to around 8.9:1. Back 10 years ago when we were developing these gaskets we got a great tip from Buick guru Jay Carter. Jay worked closely with the engineers from General Electric to develop a sealer for this specific application that works great for a leak free seal. The engineers at RJC Racing took these ultimate gaskets and combined them with the premium sealing materials and procedures and made them available in a kit with detailed instructions. The "Bullet Proof Head Gasket Kit" just flat works. If installed properly they will hold up under the most extreme conditions. We have experienced that even if the head lifts under extreme load the memory in the stamped ribs combined with the adhesion properties of the GE silicon keeps the gasket from leaking. If you ever do lift the head, usually all that is required is a retorque on the head bolts and your up and running for the next round.
We took all of the best attributes from the the GM gaskets and added some major improvements.
- 1 We made our gaskets from 304 Stainless Steel. This material is over 3 times as tough as the mild steel the GM gaskets are made from. This grade of stainless holds a better memory and is more malleable. This means the gasket will crush better and seal better.
- 2 These gaskets are designed to work with bore sizes 3.830 and under.
- 3 The .017 thick 304 Stainless Steel this gasket will allow you to increase your compression ratio a little under one half a point. (from 8.5:1 to 8.9:1) this aids in spool up, drivability and does not seem to limit maximum attainable boost pressure. It really wakes the motor up and makes it much more responsive.
- 4 Unlike the multilayer style head gaskets available. these gaskets will not leak water or oil to the outside of the block.
- 5 Because of the design of these gaskets it is impossible to get the dreaded water in the oil that is so common with other head gaskets.
- This new design is the ultimate in stock block head gasket technology. We have put allot of time engineering these and it shows in the performance of these gaskets.
Note: We recomend going with the multilayer style head gaskets only if;
#1 you have a bore size of 3.850 or larger
#2 you have a 14 bolt block and you are trying to use all 14 bolts.
Kit comes complete with 2 Genuine RJC Stainless steel shim head gaskets, one tube of GE silicon sealer, special roller applicator, card board stenciling plate to apply the silicone and highly detailed instructions.
