Head gasket goop?

I also use a very light coating of the CopperKote spray on both sides of an Andover Norton flame ring gasket. It works for me. But the most important thing is the retorquing. I do it next day after initial fire-up and then at 200 and 500 miles when stone cold. After that it has pretty much settled down. Check cylinder base nuts also and readjust valves afterwards.

I can't think all that much hi-tech designing is going into these Norton gasket materials to improve them. They look the same as 30 years ago. It is a hard life for them with the different expansion rates of cast iron and aluminum and they seem to do pretty well.

Danno said:

ludwig said:

Danno said:

I had an unpleasant experience with a composite gasket long ago- engine vibration worked it soft which meant the bolt torque originally done wasn't sufficient for sealing and it ..

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I am pretty shure it was the other way around : first loose bolts , than faulty head gasket .

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Yeah might have been OK if I had checked at an opportune time, but I was halfway between here and Florida when the valve let go. But the bolts were properly torqued to begin with.

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Hi Danno,

You do know that after a few miles fitting a new head gasket, it's necessary to re-torque the head? Needs to be done several times until the gasket is done compressing. Failure to do this results in a blown gasket. I learned this in '72 on my first Commando. It blew the head gasket at 500 miles.

To the original question - I get best results with a flame ring gasket, no goop required.

I appreciate everyone's responses. I think I'm going to put a light coat of CopperKote on the gasket - sounds like it probably isn't really necessary, but on the other hand it doesn't seem like it could hurt anything. Plus then I can tell myself I didn't waste money buying the can of it that's been sitting on my shelf for a year. That alone should justify buying another tool or chemical for the collection.

Thanks again.

(PS, Dave, have cleaned that DVD as thoroughly as I could. Dunno what the problem is, but so be it).

I've not used anything on the gasket itself. At least not on flame ring gasketsI do seal the studs though to prevent oil migration
I use Kopperkote on my motard head but it's 13.5:1. My Norton is not...
I also retorque head bolts at least a couple times before they settle...
I'm building a 750 at tie moment that is getting a copper gasket. It'll have kopperkote on it.

illf8ed said:

Hi Danno,

You do know that after a few miles fitting a new head gasket, it's necessary to re-torque the head? Needs to be done several times until the gasket is done compressing. Failure to do this results in a blown gasket. I learned this in '72 on my first Commando. It blew the head gasket at 500 miles.

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That was the last time I let a shop touch anything of mine. Didn't know what thei issue was until the valve burnt. Of course, this was 35 years ago. I have done many Britbike & H-D rebulids since then. Always used copper + spray on Coppercoat dressing and haven't had any issues. Always start the motor, maybe test ride to heat it up and re-torque once after cooldown.