The 17059 is a Marine gasket.... has stainless steel internal solid core... and a wrap-around (folded) stainless steel combustion armor. Its actually a very durable head gasket for performance usage. NOTE: Stainless steel will not rust (marine environment, includes salt water).

The 1009 and 1039 are true racing intended gaskets -- they have a tin-plate internal solid core... but with stainless steel folded cylinder armors WITH an internal pre-flattened wire ring (racing intended!)... that creates a solid fire wall against detonation/pre-ignition hi-compression common problems.

The bore diameters can be a problem, pending how large you go.

Also, "casting holes" are always restricted by the head gaskets -- to control the flow pattern/direction and volume of coolant.

I'm a former Fel-Pro applications engineer... your questions are common.