I have a LOTUS Elite fitted with a Coventry Climax engine, which has an aluminium block and head, with steel cylinder liners. Going back many years I had to run on 5 Star petrol as the engine had quite a high compression ratio. 5 star fuel became difficult to get and in order to reduce the CR and run on 4 star, I made a 0.040" thick aluminium head gasket. The standard gaskets were thin steel and thicker ones were not available at the time. I cannot remember what grade of aluminium I used but I doubt it was anything special. I had no trouble with the home made gasket over many thousands of miles. I would not hesitate to use aluminium again but thicker composite gaskets of various thicknesses are now readily available and I am getting lazy!
I also remember a garden rotovator in the family in the 1960's which had a JAP side valve engine. This had a single steel cylinder with an aluminium head and gasket.
I also remember a garden rotovator in the family in the 1960's which had a JAP side valve engine. This had a single steel cylinder with an aluminium head and gasket.