I took my heads off to do some work on them and they have a slight ring around the chamber from the head gasket. Do you think I should have them milled or clean then up a bit?

Thanks

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Est. 365Hp 420+Lbs.

 

NO

 

The gasket didn't make a groove in the head, it just looks like it did. There is no gasket in the world that would do that. I used to pull drag motors apart that used a wire for sealing the combustion chamber on blown big blocks. They had aluminum motors, which are alot softer than your iron motor, and they never made marks.
You should only deck the heads if you need to, that is if your heads are warped enough.

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'82 Firebird, dead stock, 9 bolt disc rear, over 200,000 miles and still going strong, more to come...
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There is definetly a groove, you can feel it with your thumb nail.

 

Did you use the gaskets made for aluminum heads? I have seen what wrong gaskets can do and it will leave a groove. You should find out how deep it is and go from there, but sounds to me from your description that you should mill them.

 

Yup, there's gaskets made specifically for aluminum heads. I believe it's a felpro 1010 for a 350. A normal gasket will leave a ring. My aluminum heads also had the ring from the previous owner using the wrong gasket. I had them milled just enough to clean out the groove, barely skimmed them. It didn't change the cc enough to affect compression very much.

 

whenever you remove aluminum heads always have them checked we're talking about a soft metal here

 

I'd have them milled, just enough to clean them up, nothing radical.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

I just checked the old gaskets and they were the 1010's, and I'm pretty sure they were correct. Just in some areas you can feel the groove. The new gaskets I got were 1043.

The depth is probally .001 - .002 in. at it's worst. Think I could just clean them up?
I haven't got to it yet but I believe I need to take them to the machine shop to have new guides pressed in.

Oh yeah, if I do have them milled will I need to do any machining on the intake too?

Thanks for all the help!!

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My Website
92 RS, 350, Street & Performance MPFI, TFS heads, Stock crank and rods, Fordged flat tops,
Crane Rollers,
MSD Digital 6 Plus, 22lb injectors,
ZZ3 cam, Edelbrock Headers 1 5/8, 3" Exhaust,
Hi Flow 3" Cat, stock T-5,
stock rear 3.08, koni yellow adjustable front, twin turbo glass hood, T-tops, Auto Meter Ultra Lite Series 2 5/8 gauges, Teal Green
Est. 365Hp 420+Lbs.