Felpro 8553 blue head gasket. Reuseable?

I'd always thought no but in a recent thread (reusing cometics) there was a post that you could with FP also. My situation is the eng was refreshed & then a head had to come back off before refiring & I wouldn't have a problem just purchasing another gasket but I did alot of cooling hole redrilling which then required smoothing the holes with a dremel which all in all ended up being a very significant amount of addit'l hours & if there is a reasonable chance of it being good I might chance it. Eng has not been fired. What do YOU guys think/suggest? Thank you for your time.

I've reused steel shim head gaskets on a 413 successfully. And I have had them fail too. Same with Felpro permatorques, though they are more forgiving than the shim type. It's hit or miss IMO. If you have a test stand you can fire and break in the engine and it holds up go for it. I, personally, hate trying to change a head gasket leaning over a fender, especially on a big block. At least that's my thinking but if I was to try it today I'd try it with a permatorque.

Thanks bro , yeah my gut is sayin no but...

I don't recognize that part number but I have reused the standard cheapo 440/383 Fel Pro 8519 PT or is it 8517PT(CRS on the proper Pt #) as well as the 1009 with no problems Usually after breaking in the motor on the dyno and doing a inspection tear down before giving the motor to the customer, not a lot of street or strip use IHTHs

I did it with a 318 years ago with short hours on it. Can't remember the reason but the heads were peeled of the engine and slapped on another and I just sprayed the (permatorque) gaskets with gasket sealer and screwed it together. If was almost done as a goof, lets try this and see what happens.

Engine ended up being in THREE different vehicles before I lost sight of it. Came out of my Dart where it ran low 14's on street tires, sold to a buddy who installed it in his ramcharger and then ended up in a 77-78 Snow Commander plow truck at work.

The truck actually ran better with the 318 than it did with the 360-2 that was in it before.

When I left the job the truck was still plugging along if rotting apart at a good rate. Engine never gave a problem.

If that gaskets didn't stick to the head or deck I'd consider re-using them.

I reused a lot of gaskets back in the days of our no budget dirt track racing, but those 100,000 mile motors were short lived anyway. Don't think I'd do it with something I cared about. I'm getting old and too lazy to redo things like replacing gaskets because I was too cheap or lazy to use new ones the first time.

The last 20 or so years, every time I cut a corner, I got burned. Maybe its just payback from all the corners I got away cutting back when I was younger. Gene

RR is that the marine gasket?If you havent fired Id reuse it.They are a pretty stout gasket.Just un bolt the same as you torque the head.Rocky

I'll get over to my racing partners' shop & get a pic (& part #).

Yup. the wisdom says if it hasn't been fired it's good to go a second time.

R.

Alright Dog I will go with your advice & hope for the best. I definitely want to avoid all that Dremel work if I can. next time I think I (in the first place) will send a pattern to Cometic & let them cut one for me. On a seperate note the 3/16" alum spacers that Jerry Cjubatski (SDC concepts) in troy Michigan (A member here) cut for me were only $75 & were of premium workmanship (& the exacto knife cut pattern I sent him was a bit sloppy to say the least)

As long as it hasn't been run I'd have no problem reusing it on any engine.

everytime I look at the compressed (areas) I start to worry but you guys are puttin me at ease

Probably be OK but do you want to take that chance for 25 bucks.

Ah, look at the bright side, someone is going to get to tell you "I told you so!"

At least I was at ease for a little while, the price ain't nothing nor is the drilling but guess I'll have to bite the bullet & do the dremeling if I replace it. OH it just hit me that the problem was the HF one that if you breathe near it it'd stall. I will get a good one which oughta go 20X faster so If I do do it I'll be ready

At a cost for new gaskets at $16 I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I bought a 440 short block core off of craigslist, and at that time I had pulled the 440 out of my black 71 R/T. I wanted to be able to move the car around under it's own power. So I took that junkyard 440 short block and found all the bits and pieces to make a running engine. I sure wasn't going to buy a new gasket set. That engine is in the car, doesn't leak a drop of anything. ALL used Gaskets from different engines.

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I bought a 440 short block core off of craigslist, and at that time I had pulled the 440 out of my black 71 R/T. I wanted to be able to move the car around under it's own power. So I took that junkyard 440 short block and found all the bits and pieces to make a running engine. I sure wasn't going to buy a new gasket set. That engine is in the car, doesn't leak a drop of anything. ALL used Gaskets from different engines.

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Yep. Sometimes it works. The question is does it work every time?