I think I already know the answer to this, but I have a set of Fel Pro steel shim head gaskets installed (FP-1094) and am swapping short blocks. Can these be reused or should I get new ones?

 

I prefer new head gaskets every time I swap heads. I figure its less trouble to do it and get it sealed right every time. Unless its a go-cart. Then every used head gasket is a good gasket.

 

You ABSOLUTELY MUST get new ones; even if they've only been torqued down and not run. Those are bad enough about leaking even when they're new.

 

they're only like $20 each.. why save $40 bucks and risk spending $800 to rebuild the motor?? cheap insurance.. change everytime..

 

Like I said, I pretty much knew what was coming, but thank you all for confirming what I thought. Yeah I wasn't sure whether or not they were reusable because they were steel shims. I'll be getting a Fel Pro performance gasket kit and use those gaskets.