ok so i was installing my valve springs and retainers and got ahead of myself ended up dropping the last valve.....so mad at myself. anyway now that i got the head off do i run a 3mm or stay stock iv been seeing everyone seems to blow the 3mm and say stock is better but it seems as the conversation are all based on 450 500hp set ups. i plan on having 450 for low boost but 650 700 on high boost. (i have a custom front mount turbo manifold and fender dumped exhaust) should i run new valves too? and arp head studs?

 

Not sure about the rest, but definitely do ARP head studs while you are in there.

 

i cant wait to see how people respond to this. you will get a bunch of people that say keep it stock but then you will get those few who will say do the gasket, i mean very few and they hardly post on the issue. i would like to know myself if i should use the gasket but the ratio of nay to yay is not looking so good. 10 nays to 1 yay

 

I'll be the first! Stock head gasket is where it is. If you search, you will see every 3mm or thicker head gasket you see has blown eventually. There, i think, is a reasoning behind this. We saw these blown head gaskets occur when people were trying to push the limit of the oem built motors with the thicker head gasket to lower compression. The the head gasket being larger makes the head gasket the weak link. The occurrences were more often when the tuning of the boosted s2000s was still in its infancy so that could be an outlying issue to think about too. However i will say that if something goes, it is better the head gasket then the whole motor. My out look is that i would rather have no, or at least not introduce any weak points.

Also i would recommend the L19 studs from Full Blown! They are bigger(thicker) and will take anything that you can throw at the f20(22). Is your motor stock? I see you said valves and retainers etc but are those oem or???
But to sum it up, I wouldn't ever use a head gasket to lower the compression on the f20(22), i would just run lower boost or race gas/ e85.

 

X2. If you want that kind of power on pump with stock motor you need a HG. If you are a capable wrencher and don't mind pulling heads off then a HG is a bandaid to get you power on pump. Some guys get thousands of miles before they blow and others hundreds or less. It depends on your boost level.

 

stock!!!!!

 

Stock hg. E85. Goal achieved with proper turbo setup.

As for the valve. If u had rotated motor to tdc valve should not have fallen for that cyl. Sucks though.

 

You will need to run race gas anyways for your higher boost levels so don't even bother with a headgasket. You can achieve around 450whp with the right turbo setup on pump gas with stock compression so that will work for your low boost goals.

 

Stock + APR's

 

E85 isnt really readily available at every gas station in tampa there is like maybe 1 or 2 and there is absolutely 0 in the Ft. Bragg, fayetteville, ralleigh NC area. i think Charlotte is the closest and that is a half of a tank drive just to get there