103 stage 3 compresson

[tony2772]

Mike I installed the 103 stage 3 earlier this year, and during the break in period I blew a head gasket out. My question is what thickness are the head gaskets that come in the SE 103 stage 3 kit, and would I be better of using a different thickness. The only deviation from the kit is I pulled out the perfect fit push rods and installed crane adjustables. I installed the adjustables because I thought I could get rid of some of the valve train noise(I was wrong). So if I end up using a different thickness gasket will I be able to use the perfect fit push rods or will I have to use the adjustables. Also could you tell me the static and running compression. The book states 10.5-1? Another question I have is on torquing, I thought I followed the shop manual to a T. Should they be torqued a little more or what, just wondering if the HD manual is spot on. What could have caused this premature head gasket failure I only had about 150 miles on the motor. FYI, I don't always let it warm up completely before taking off, could this cause them to fail.
Thanks Mike for all your help, Tony

[Mike]

H-D gaskets are typically designed to be .040-.045 when crushed. You can use the perfect fit pushrods with gaskets that are within .015 of stock. In theory, you have +- .030 to play with in the hydraulics.

Advertized compression is 10.5 but is typically slightly lower when cc'd. Corrected prsssure with 251 cams should be approx 9.4 (very good).

I would not change gasket thickness to solve this issue but go to SE or Cometic MLS gaskets. The stock composit gskets are VERY good at sealing uneven or moving surfaces but are not forgiving as far as warmup, they must have the growth of the cylinders to achieve complete seal and can fail when the motor is not properly warmed up. The MLS gaskets are VERY good at sealing even cold but are not as compliant as composit gaskets. Sealing surfaces must be flat and even.

When doing routine service or warranty work, we torque head bolts to factory specs and methods. Our high output motors are torqued similar to Cometic's recommendations but not quite the same. We lubricate the threads and underside of the bolts, torque to 15ft lb in the HD pattern, then increment 5 ft lbs to 45 in that same pattern. Double click on the last torque.