What do you all recommend for the best SBC head gasket?

I am running about 10.5:1, and the Felpro 17030's did not hold up. One grenaded between the middle cylinders, and the other wasn't far behind, in a matter of 10 hours or less runtime. No signs of pre-ignition otherwise. The gaskets looked perfect otherwise.

Anybody have the part # for the cometic SS gaskets? Looking for about .039 crushed thickness.

Thanks

You must have had some kind of a issue (pre-ignition,too high of water pressure,etc) because I have ran 11-1 on small blocks with cheap detroit brand gaskets and stock bolts with zero issues,its not like the felpros are junk. I would figure out what the underlying problem is first,Smitty

I couldn't see any evidence of preignition whatsoever on the piston tops, valve tops, plugs, etc.

The water passages held up fine, only the firering between the middle 2 cylinders were damaged. The entire rest of the gasket looked fine, including the areas between the other cylinders. The 2nd gasket (not completely failed yet) showed signs of leakage (carbon build-up) and no seal in the exact same area.

The deck was freshly machined, and the cyl heads were brand new Darts. New ARP bolts.

One thing that may have caused it, I was told not to torque the bolts per ARP, (something like 90 ft/lb) but to torque them to normal specs. I was told that 90ft/lb could pull the threads out of the block.

Did you check the heads. Just because they are new does not mean anything.

I've had great success with Felpro 1010's on my last two SBC. One engine had ARP headstuds and the other ARP headbolts. The same AFR aluminum heads on both. ARP headbolts were torqued to 70 ft lbs. Gaskets looked good when pulled. Motors were 10-1 SCR.