Reinforced head gasket R12 Gordini – separate-ring gasket

Reinforced head gasket R12 Gordini – custom-made separate-ring gasket

The separate-ring gasket is the best solution in terms of sealing. (see the description below for an explanation)

Thickness and diameter made to order, ideal for improving the reliability of your 1596 – 1774 – 1796 or 1860 engine

Price delivered

The crimped-ring gasket — meaning the ring is “held” within the gasket — is made of steel, even stainless steel. Originally this ring is a crushed tube so it can be crimped under pressure, with a thickness of about 1/10 mm. In tuned engines, i.e. engines under high stress, it is often these fire rings that fail… this can be fine for a standard engine, but as soon as you want to build something serious it is better to move on to something else.
Some of these gaskets can be seen covered with a layer of stainless steel top and bottom, but the base of the gasket is still a standard gasket.

The multi-layer gasket (MLS) is a set of metal sheets stacked and riveted together. With this type of gasket the block's waviness must be less than 10µm over more than 8mm and the roughness must be less than 15µm… The absence of a fire ring on this type of gasket often causes reliability problems on tuned engines.

The third type is the O-ring; the O-ring requires machining of the block and the cylinder head in order to fit a cylindrical wire acting as a fire ring. The problem with this type of gasket is that the modification is irreversible: once the block and head are machined there is no going back. The ring wire is far thinner than that of a separate-ring gasket.

The fourth type is the separate ring. The advantage of this kind of gasket is that the fire ring is machined from solid. This ring is on average 20 times thicker than a crimped ring. Unlike the O-ring setup it requires no machining of the block or the cylinder head; the ring is designed to fit directly in place like a standard gasket. It is a very strong stainless-steel ring that withstands very high turbo pressures, above 2.5 bar. The fibre is coated, like a standard gasket, with a silicone bead to absorb the machining marks of the block. One last very interesting point is the made-to-measure aspect: we manufacture the gaskets to order with bores to 1/10 of a millimetre and the thickness of your choice.

The crimped-ring gasket — meaning the ring is “held” within the gasket — is made of steel, even stainless steel. Originally this ring is a crushed tube so it can be crimped under pressure, with a thickness of about 1/10 mm. In tuned engines, i.e. engines under high stress, it is often these fire rings that fail… this can be fine for a standard engine, but as soon as you want to build something serious it is better to move on to something else.
Some of these gaskets can be seen covered with a layer of stainless steel top and bottom, but the base of the gasket is still a standard gasket.

The multi-layer gasket (MLS) is a set of metal sheets stacked and riveted together. With this type of gasket the block's waviness must be less than 10µm over more than 8mm and the roughness must be less than 15µm… The absence of a fire ring on this type of gasket often causes reliability problems on tuned engines.

The third type is the O-ring; the O-ring requires machining of the block and the cylinder head in order to fit a cylindrical wire acting as a fire ring. The problem with this type of gasket is that the modification is irreversible: once the block and head are machined there is no going back. The ring wire is far thinner than that of a separate-ring gasket.

The fourth type is the separate ring. The advantage of this kind of gasket is that the fire ring is machined from solid. This ring is on average 20 times thicker than a crimped ring. Unlike the O-ring setup it requires no machining of the block or the cylinder head; the ring is designed to fit directly in place like a standard gasket. It is a very strong stainless-steel ring that withstands very high turbo pressures, above 2.5 bar. The fibre is coated, like a standard gasket, with a silicone bead to absorb the machining marks of the block. One last very interesting point is the made-to-measure aspect: we manufacture the gaskets to order with bores to 1/10 of a millimetre and the thickness of your choice.