engnbldr

>>>*I got sick and tired of replacing head bolts, so I had some made for the early and late 20R to 22R, and also the 3VZE. The 20R and 22R series are reusable but often corroded, so I made the early bolts just because I don't like washing and checking used ones. On the 3VZE, we just went to 190,000# tensile strength, they torque the same way but are reusable, end of that problem.

The real problem with Felpro is that fine family owned company was sold to Federal-mogul, after that the gaskets changed. I know, I sold Felpro exclusively for 25 years, and I was the first full line stocking dealer in the Portland, Oregon area, our first stocking was 1974.

The gasket sets are still as complete as you can buy, well packaged, but now what is actually IN the package is no longer assured, like many suppliers, they buy from many sources. We even dropped the Chevrolet Felpro line, the head gaskets were no longer familiar.

We found a line of gaskets that featured the full slipperplate design, hopefully this won't sound like a tooting of the horn since several other brands now feature the same technology. I was lucky to sit in on discussions a decade or so ago with a sharp tech named Steve Norman who came up with the idea, truth is we were trying to solve the head gasket failure problem with Hondas at the time.

Five years more after meetings and engineering reports, in production, and it works, now many OEM's use the same basic technology.

On the aluminum heads, the steel facing is towards the head, this means that the machine shop that doesn't get the surface finish quite right can now rely on the gasket itself to help with the expansion concerns.

This has been working exceptionally well except for some folks using aftermarket stud kits and what we consider incredible clamping forces, with torque loads of 80# and more.

This can crack the steel lined plating of the gasket at the fire ring crimping, and lead to disappointment, so if using performance stud kits it is best to buy a performance style head gasket, like half soft copper or full composition.

The hard part to understand is the head gasket is DESIGNED to fail in upset conditions, if it does not, then the next failure is much more expensive engine parts.

I will say I know of no brand at all that will fail in perfectly normal conditions, there is always either poor clamping force, or localized overheat or stress as the true cause....*EB

Toysrme

IDK about the bolts. Toyota normally uses stretch bolts, but Toyota specs are normally a bit on the low side. I think that's a problem with a lot of them.
Warped heads is another. They simply don't check.

AFA the stock bolts, on my 3vz-fe I torqued every last one of my stock bolts down to atleast 95lb-ft used & they still had all of that torque on them the last time I took the heads off. I stress tested 4 of them. Only 2 of them snapped the heads off before I physically was worn out. One at like 105, the other at 115.
I wouldn't blame the bolts. From what I've always seen, they stay in good shape regardless. That's why Toyota doesn't specify, or use them.

This last time I had my local nut & bolt house (They love Toyotas) get me some grade 10.9 M14 bolts. I drilled & tapped for them. They're installed @ 50lb-ft right now, but when the CT26 get's on my car, I may take the cams out & set them to 100lb-ft even. Same for my cams. They went from M10 to M12 & I re-tapped my valve covers.
Make friends with your local Nut & Bolt house. I swear to god you can replace every piece of hardware on your engine with better matierial than OEM for like $30.

photomike72

Am I correct in assuming that NO adhesives should be used when replacing the HG with the "slipperplate" newer designed gaskets?

I think that's what happened to my last ones, they appeared to be the new style gasket but had to be peeled off of the the block as it looked like they were glued on causing a failure in the ring that surrounds the rear piston on the d-side.

would make sense that they wont slip if they are glued on with gasket adhesive.

Mike

3.0 yoda

Does anyone know if there are steel head gasket for v6.

iselloil

Use the Victor.

Wrenchinjoe

x2 on engnbldr.com. The entire gasket set from him is reasonably priced and good quality. ($94 for the valve grind set that includes all gaskets you should need to do HGs)

If you are set on OEM, you can find better prices than your local dealer online. Try www.toyotapartszone.com. Their valve grind set runs $288 if memory serves me correctly.