DryLakesRacer (12/13/2015)
One other thing on Cometics.
Ted may need to help on this answer. I was looking at different gasket thicknesses for our Dart block super stock dirt car and Cometic lists different ones to raise and lower compression ratios. They needed different finishes on both the head and block; I believe smoother but I don't remember the #'s given to it. Our machinist advised us to leave a finish he said was normal and to continue with the Fel-Pro we had been using which was .041" crushed. We use 11.8 to 1 comp on the engine.
The Cometic MLS head gaskets require a fine finish on both the decks and head surfaces. Having that fine finish does allow the gasket to slip and slide (by design) when the head and decks are of dissimilar materials such as aluminum and iron. Cometic recommends a 50RA or finer finish but I've seen nothing about different finishes on the deck and the heads on the same engine. Cometic also recommends no sealer but I’ve found that spraying them with CopperCoat does help as I’ve experienced water seepage with them when using them straight from the packaging.
When using the Best Gaskets composition head gaskets on the Y engines, I’ve simply been spraying them liberally with WD-40 before installing them. The use of WD-40 has allowed the BG head gaskets to be reused up to six times when doing extensive head testing on the dyno mule.