buying headgasket, which one?

[jw 325ic]

I'm going to do the headgasket while i'm doing the timing belt this winter and noticed pelican has quite a few choices. I've heard some negative things on Victor Reinz products in general so should I steer clear from them for the headgasket? I've used them for the valve cover gasket and have had no problems. I'm keeping my m20b25 stock so i don't think going +0.3 is necessary for me. thanks for the advice, just don't want to have to replace it a year later or anything.

**also, the head gasket sealing compound that pelican sells...necessary? this will be my first time so any advice is great. i do have manuals and plenty of sources to reference off of but it's always nice to hear advice from those who've done it and have had issues in the way compared to these perfect mechanics in the manuals.

[jw 325ic]

trying to order this weekend so if anyone knows of a good one let me know. if theyre one in the same let me know thanks.

[accident]

I always use Goetze head gaskets. I've never used any sort of sealant and I've never had an issue. Just make sure you scrape all of the crap off of the mating surfaces and torque the bolts properly and it should be fine.

[AnimalE30]

I had a VR headgasket that came in a kit, heard some bad things so I went with the goetze(man).

Make sure you clean the head and block off as good as you can. Also, don't reuse the head bolts!

[nrubenstein]

The Reinz head gasket is the one that's trash. The rest of their stuff is generally usable, but their head gasket likes to leak oil.

[Myster-E]

I done probably 10 m20 cylinder head jobs using victor reinz head gaskets with no problem. I always spray the gasket with copper head gasket spray.

[redsubdivisions]

Goetze. Got one on my turbo build right now.

[619E30]

Have used Victor Reinz plenty of times without any issues, but you can't go wrong with Goetze either.

[jw 325ic]

awesome thanks guys. i knew i had read something about VR in the past that really put a bad image on em. ill go with the goetze. thanks again!

[browntown]

I'd use goetze, elring, and fel-pro before I'd use any reinz stuff. Personal preference. It's probably all the same stuff, but I have a leaking reinz gasket. I can assume it was the PO's installation that was the problem, but it is not worth repeating.