[rexs73gto]

I had to rebuild the engine in my car because of an oil pump problem & went ahead & bought the gasket kit from Butler. When I got the kit & opened it up I was not impressed with the head gaskets. They looked like a very cheap head gasket . I put them on & it was very hard to get them in place as I have studded my heads & the gaskets wouldn't go down without a lot of pushing. At 1 point I had to use a socket to push it all the way down flat on the block. Once it was down it looked ok but I didn't feel good about it. I have never liked putting copper seal on a head gasket , at least not in the last 20 years. I got the engine back together & it ran good & seemed trouble free. I had about 1 hour on it & took it to a show near me & I got about 15 or so miles on it & BANG, the head gaskets both blew out. The heads were installed like all my engines & with these gaskets I had to retorque the heads according to the instructions & in doing this I had to turn the nuts on the studs a very long way, more then what I would call normal. These were just very cheap gaskets & even though Butler said they use these gaskets on there engines I don't believe this now. When I took off the heads after they blew I could see the heads didn't seat on the block at all at the top side as I could see it in the way the gasket didn't fit to the block surface. What now I think happened was the gasket puckered up when it didn't fit down on the block & caused it to blow because it didn't seal at all on the top part of the block at all. From this experience I do not recommend the head gaskets that come in the gasket kit from Butler. I know they have a few other head gaskets they use & sell. If your getting a gasket set or just individual gaskets from Butler make sure it's not the ones they sell for the kit as they are just cheap junk & won't seal on your engine. I now have installed some new Fel-pro head gaskets on the block tonight & they fit so much better & they went on so nice. Plus I won't have to use an extra sealer or retorque the heads either. I should have stopped when i saw how cheap they were in the beginning but thats my fault ,,, don't let it happen to you. Get the good head gaskets for your build, so you don't have to go through what I'm going through right now. Saving a little at 1st. isn't worth it.