Topic: A little reintroduction plus a couple of questions

[Richmondo]

Been a long time since I've posted up around her so I thought I'd kind of reintroduce myself (Mods feel free to move this thread if you need to). The names Jake. I'm a tech at Champion Toyota in Austin, TX. I just picked up a clean '80 long bed pickup from my team leader for $1500. Down side is it has a blown head gasket. No biggie though. Toyota has discontinued the head gasket for the 20R. I would obviously prefer an OEM gasket but my only other option is a full head kit which is more than I have to spend, even with my discount, and may be discontinued as well.

So I bit the bullet and bought a Rock head gasket kit. So here's my first question. I've read everybody's opinion on the Rock gaskets and they all seem to be good but I'd like to know if anyone has had a failure with their gaskets? I'm still apprehensive about after market gaskets from working shitty part store jobs for too long.

Now on to question two. I've checking out some of the custom dash bezels here and on pirate and was wondering if any body has used ABS plastic? If so what thickness did you use? I was thinking a combo of 1/8" and 1/4" ABS but don't know if it would be rigid enough to hold a DIN stereo, CB, climate control and possibly some gauges.

Thanks in advanced guys 

[1980yota]

I cant tell you much about the gaskets bc I have never personally used them. I have Fel-Pro gaskets on all my yota stuff and have never had a problem out of them.

As for the dash I use 1/8 inch ABS plastic to house 3 gauges, 3 toggles and a radio in the cener of the dash. The plastic by itself is not strong enough to hold the radio on its own, I have a piece of plummers tape strapped from the top of the dash to the back of the radio for support. This has held up great since I put everything in over christmas break. I can snap a few pics when I get home tonight if you like.

[Richmondo [OP]]

I'd appreciate some pics. I've been contemplating using 3/8" or 1/2" but I need to do some looking and measuring. I don't know if the increased thickness is gonna cause any interference issues.

I usually use oem gaskets since they're relatively cheap and easy for me to get my hands on. Since this particular engine already had a Fel-pro gasket fail I figured I'd try something else. Rock seems to have a good reputation but there has to be some failures out there.

[1980yota]

You will have failures with any gasket no matter the manufacturer. For me it was a no brainer because my dad owns a auto repair shop and has been using Fel-Pro for over 25 years. Remember the install of the gasket and then how the truck is driven will determin the life of the gasket as well.

I will snap a few pics for you when I get home from work tonight.

[1980yota]

As promised here are a couple picks......

[kneedownnate]

Keep trying for the Toyota head gasket.  My brother works in the parts dept at a toyota dealer too and runs across stuff like this at times:  Shows to only be available as a kit but can still be broken down to individual gaskets.  Even if that's not the case, I'd be willing to bet you could dig through the network of dealers and still find single gaskets sitting on shelves.  Wait, don't do that, cause I'm not gonna try to beat you to it and stock up 

As for felpro head gaskets, they work fine for domestic crap but it's well known and proven they don't play well with toyota r-series engines.  I've personally had one fail.

[brainlessfool]

  I've personally had one fail.

X2

[Tofudude]

i picked up the gasket by it self at the dealer and then just bought the gasket set at autozone...about 110 total.

[1980yota]

X2

I have personally had 4 not fail, but people always look at the couple that do fail as oppose to the many that dont. I am not saying Fel-Pro is the best but they have been a solid choice for me on everything I have used them on.

[kneedownnate]

Everything japanese or domestic?  Tighter tolerances tend to demand higher quality.  MLS or nothing for me.

[kneedownnate]

And how mine failed:  Flat block, flat head, properly torqued and re-torqued - super thin single layer felpro sealing ring rusted through and began leaking.