I'm about to begin rebuilding a 7MGE N/A engine to put into an '84 MK2. As my username suggests, I'm trying to do this on a fairly tight budget. I bought the car and engine for cheap and am planning on entering it into an endurance race for cars that cost less than $500. This is not a daily driver, and I would only expect to be able to get a few races out of the car before it dies completely for one reason or another.
Unlike most of the posts I've read I'm not looking for a HG that will last for 200k miles or that will allow me to add a turbo in the future or really do anything to improve the power output of the engine beyond stock. What I need is something that will hold up for about 18 hours and 500 miles of road course racing. That means basically hammering it through 2nd and 3rd to the red line all day long. But no sustained cruising at all.
I'm pretty sure a metal head gasket is totally overkill for this application, but I've found several non-metal HGs that vary significantly in price and was hoping to find someone with some experience with these brands.
Currently I'm thinking about picking up a $55 full gasket set off e-bay, but I've heard the HGs in these sets are terrible so unless people think it will hold in the conditions I've described I will buy a separate decent quality HG. I've looked at a Fel Pro HG for ~$75 and a Beck/Arnley for $50. There's also one from a company called ITM for $25. I'm sure there are others and I'd love to hear your suggestions
So given all this which HG do you recommend? Assuming my head isn't warped and that the mating surfaces are in good shape (big assumption I know) would a cheap gasket torqued to the new higher specs hold up for a couple thousand miles of track driving, or do I really need to invest the money in a decent one?
TIA
Unlike most of the posts I've read I'm not looking for a HG that will last for 200k miles or that will allow me to add a turbo in the future or really do anything to improve the power output of the engine beyond stock. What I need is something that will hold up for about 18 hours and 500 miles of road course racing. That means basically hammering it through 2nd and 3rd to the red line all day long. But no sustained cruising at all.
I'm pretty sure a metal head gasket is totally overkill for this application, but I've found several non-metal HGs that vary significantly in price and was hoping to find someone with some experience with these brands.
Currently I'm thinking about picking up a $55 full gasket set off e-bay, but I've heard the HGs in these sets are terrible so unless people think it will hold in the conditions I've described I will buy a separate decent quality HG. I've looked at a Fel Pro HG for ~$75 and a Beck/Arnley for $50. There's also one from a company called ITM for $25. I'm sure there are others and I'd love to hear your suggestions
So given all this which HG do you recommend? Assuming my head isn't warped and that the mating surfaces are in good shape (big assumption I know) would a cheap gasket torqued to the new higher specs hold up for a couple thousand miles of track driving, or do I really need to invest the money in a decent one?
TIA
