Upgrading to a MHG?

Check your oil, if is't got frothie white foam in it thats for sure a BHG. Check to see if your loosing coolant and check for white smoke out the tail pipe. Also check comp. if it's low on 2 cylinders that are side by side the HG is proly blown between cylinders.

metal head gasket..

i am also interested tin this answer... what type or brand or metal head gasket are other people currently using?? :evil:

HKS is probably the most used, it's also the cheapest.

Leak-down test(i think?) is a good test for a bhg. I also found when my headgasket went that the exhaust smelled acrid, I guess because of the coolant burning? This was only noticeable on startup after it had been sitting a while.

HK$ would prob be the most common. Personally I'm using a 2mm bead MHG. Bead is the cheapest and should be suffucient for most needs. Choose the thickness dependins on how much you need to machine the head/block. The more you need to machine, the thicker the headgasket you should use. I think they come in three flavours 1mm 1.5mm and 2mm.

HTH

machining for head gasket

alot of people say it may be best to leave the head factory and not macine it... what are the truths to this...

Sometimes using MHG causes problems due to poor machining, smoothness & flatness. Using a stock type HG is more forgiving (allowing imperfections on the head and block). Depending on HP goal and amount of boost planned one should go with MHG if high boost is planned. There's too many variables to list here on minimum requirements or limitations on either stock and MHG.
In my 7mgte, I'm using a Greddy MHG 1.5mm thick with ARP studs, block and head machined then lapped as per Reg Riemer's method. Currently running 16 psi but have boosted as high as 20 psi (overboost/spike). No blown HG. 8)
Bought the MHG and studs from Alamo Motorsports a few years ago.

copper headgaskets are the best. all the NHRA drag engines use them. toysport sells them for $75.

ive gotta disagree with you...
copper headgaskets may be the best for the engines the NHRA runs, but for everyday, normal street engines, its probably way easier to get a nice simple, normal headgasket running reliably... after all, most people dont have an NHRA engine building team working on their car.

HKS works, and its trusted, thats good enough for me.

Also, keep in mind that NHRA engines using copper HG also has metal O-rings with grooves around each cylinder on deck of block. Wouldn't recommend it for 5m/6m/7m engines.

tru dat. i forgot that they ran oringed blocks.