Block and head gasket mismatch

[jt66383]

Hey guys, I moved my motor back out to the garage this past weekend. Tonight I was going to install the heads, and finish the assembly. I pulled out my gasket set, and placed it on the block. The gasket seems to block off the water jackets between the block and head. Did I end up with the wrong heads gaskets in my engine kit? The inboard ports line up with slits in the gasket and the outboard ones are blocked altogether.


Thanks
Jeff

[jt66383]

Never mind, did a better search and found a post about this.
Cheers
Jeff

[Chryco Psycho]

you are good to go , the restrict the flow through those ports 

[Supercharged Riot]

Yep. I had questioned that a few months ago myself
It seems to be normal believe it or not

[jt66383]

Thanks again guys.
Jeff

[Cooter]

 

[METROID]

I searched the site and couldn't find an answer as to why its OK to block these off. My heads and block have these ports and I was wondering if there is any danger in creating holes in the gasket for these water jackets.

[tan top]

 i'm no expert !  but I believe the holes are blocked for a reason ,  to slow down the water circulation & to make sure the water flows in a set pattern & no hot spots ! , think opening up will cause hot spots  & poor water circulation , having said this ,  late 70s model motor home blocks & heads do have extra holes for cooling , have not got any pictures saved on this computer ,
I await to be corrected on this   

[Cooter]

i'm no expert !  but I believe the holes are blocked for a reason ,  to slow down the water circulation & to make sure the water flows in a set pattern & no hot spots ! , think opening up will cause hot spots  & poor water circulation , having said this ,  late 70s model motor home blocks & heads do have extra holes for cooling , have not got any pictures saved on this computer ,
I await to be corrected on this   

ever removed T stat and car runs hotter? Same principle.

[chargervic]

i'm no expert !  but I believe the holes are blocked for a reason ,  to slow down the water circulation & to make sure the water flows in a set pattern & no hot spots ! , think opening up will cause hot spots  & poor water circulation , having said this ,  late 70s model motor home blocks & heads do have extra holes for cooling , have not got any pictures saved on this computer ,
I await to be corrected on this   

You're right about the extra cooling holes in the motorhome blocks and heads. These passages were to provide extra cooling in the spark plug area as the motorhome engines had more heat in the enclosed motor house and the truck style exhaust manifolds kept more heat in that same area. These MH heads used the smaller tapered seat spark plugs with the 5/8" hex like chebbies. I used a set of these heads on my 451 for many years after drilling the matching holes in the block. (Scary job). Never had any heating problems at all with only a five blade fan and no shroud.

[Cooter]

Coolant has a certain pathway through the engine. You go messin we it it and you open up a can o worms.
think reverse flow heads on standard flow block. Those holes are restricted to force most of the coolant in a certain path.

Yes, I've wondered. Built numerous 440's and never HAD to enlarge cooling holes as a bandaid for cooling woes.

[METROID]

Thanks for the help. I won't be modifying anything.