Aluminium head gaskets

[Ian Williams]

I don't have experience with Aluminium head gaskets on an A7 engine but I have played with Solid copper ones. I found it very difficult to obtain a fully water tight seal and did not pursue the route for long, retightening the modern composites seems the best route at present. I did have an engine pass through my hands fitted with heavily skimmed aluminium head where a previous owner had attempted to restore the CR with a thick Aluminium gasket. From the carbon build up in the combustion chambers engine had obviously been running in this condition and I could not see obvious signs of bad water seepage. The owner did not want to reuse the head and gasket so I have no idea how successfully it ran in that condition.