Wondering if anyone runs steel shim gaskets? I was thinking of  decking the block for straightness and putting steel shim gaskets on it. The heads will be planed for straightness so the surface area will be flat. My reasoning was I didn't want to take more off the deck to compensate for comp gaskets and then down the road if I rebuild again on the same block the deck would be shaved again for straightness.  What do you all think? Appreciate advice.

I used some steel gaskets on a test engine.  Tried it with nonsurfaced heads and undecked block.  There wasnt a coolant leak, but oil seaped out between 6 and 7 cylinders.  Surfaced the heads and reinstalled but the same seapage resulted.  You should be fine I would think with surfacing AND decking.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

I avoid using the steel shim head gaskets and especially where a quality composition head gasket is available.  By the time the decks and heads are milled for straightness, the composition gaskets fit fine as without any milling the heads are sitting on the high side when switching to composition gaskets.  You’ll also find that re-torqing of the heads is highly recommended with the steel shim head gaskets but not necessarily so when using composition gaskets.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

ted do you thing ford retorqued the heads on new fords.somehow i doubt it.

When I got my Tbird one of the head gaskets was reversed. I replaced the composition gaskets with steel with no problems.

314,

I recall, from way back when, that the selling dealer was "encouraged" to re-torque sometime during "break-in".

Regards,  JLB

55 Ford Crown Victoria Steel Top

I torque my heads, wait a few days and retorque. seems to work, always need some movement to achieve correct torque.

While the factory did not re-torque the head gaskets once the engines were assembled in the car, I’d not be surprised if there were some specific torque steps that took place before the engines were fitted to the chassis to help alleviate any problems with the steel shim gaskets.  By just going back after a period of time after the initial head gasket and torquing operation was completed and then re-torquing the bolts could potentially be all that’s required.  In installing the heads on the Flathead V8’s, it’s not unusual to go back as many as four more times over a given period of time and re-torque as the bolts and/or studs tend to relax.  New gasket technology is such that re-torquing of the head bolts on most modern engines is just about a thing of the past.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)