Payen Head gasket

Hi All,

first of, yes i know to use the search. And i did, but i don't find what i am looking for.

After the long trip where i thought all went fine, i noticed i blew the head gasket. I have always been using the solid coper ones. But They seem to have changed in quality(my dad has the same issue on is a series) . Engine block and head have been flattened. So i have now for the first time ordered a payen gasket.

Now the question is, how tight do these ones to be tightened? I heard you don't have to re-tightend these. Or some say 500km later.


Any advice is very welcome.

No re-torquing required as they are self sealing and you will damage this seal when you go to re-torque them. 50 lbs. should be enough to maintain a good seal. RAY

Opinions of copper head gaskets seem to vary. Some people don't like them for anything but racing (where presumably the head doesn't stay on the block for very long).

Hi terry, my dad used them for years. never an issue. Now since a year, the stuff that limora delivered in germany just is awful.

The "all copper gaskets seem to be long gone. The ones sold today as "copper" are copper colored on one side and steel on the other - not very good since the two different metals corrode. Do re-torque the Payen. 50 pounds is good. Just re-torque one stud at a time bu backing it off a quarter of a turn and then getting a full pull to 50 psi when you tighten it. I've re-used a Payen gasket several times on the race car and never encountered any damage from re use or from re-torquing. Best of luck. Basil

Martin,

I run a Payen on my roadster too for 5 years now. As Basil stated torque the Payen just like the old OEM one and give it re-torque after a some hundred Km period.
I re-torqued mine (with the engine still warm at 60°C) after running the car for 800 Km.
As it is a composite gasket that contains epoxy resin, it must not be re-torqued with the engine cooled down completely.

Ralph

use standard head torque value. Unless you are using ARP studs, then follow their instructions.

Wow, based on the comments made, I'm glad that I bought a few extra cylinder head gaskets and (at least) one upper and lower gasket set. Thanks for the info.

Bob

can anyone tell me what 50 pounds would be in Metric value?

1 ft-lb = 1.356 nm

50 ft-lbs = 67.7908975 nm



Dick

thanx guys, all this info is solid gold to me ;)

Payen doesn't recommend re-torquing their head gaskets. Many professional engine rebuilders follow this advice and never have any problems. Others swear by the re-torquing procedure. It's up to you as to which path to follow. The end result seems to be the same. RAY

Ill give them a re-torquing after a few hundred miles then right?