I am scared to death to put another factory gasket on this truck.
This will be the 3rd one.

The only mods I have made are

16* timing
fuel plate ground
4in exaust

I did get ARP studs, for this one, and did reused the orig streatch bolts the 1st 3 times. Does anyone make a solid copper gasket. ***

 

Have your head decked to get it flat first...Locate a .010 over marine head gasket from a cummins dealer and you should be ok to 50-55 psi tops as long as the head is torqued down good

 

10 over cummins part number 3283337
20 over cummins part number 3283339

I'm running 18.5* timing on a few more mods and not a problem yet...

 

Yea, I got the head decked on the 2nd gskt. It took 5k to make it flat. I also went to the cummins dealer and the marine gskt came back same as the truck gskt. They said they are the same now.WTH.

 

if you order one of the 2 numbers above and dont mention your truck you'll get what you ask for...I'm running the 3283339 20 over marine gasket my-self

 

You should also check the block surface for flatness too. Lay a long straight edge lengthwise and diagonal and see if you can slide some feeler gauges under it. That may be your problem in addition to a warped head.

Clean the block/head extra careful and make sure to bottom tap the holes and clean out any old oil/antifreeze. That can squeeze out and ruin a head job. Also be careful when realigning the head that you don't gouge the new gasket. Lots of little things that can ruin a weekends work in a hurry.

Good luck. I'm running a 0.020 over with the ARP's at 140 ft/lb and 23* timing without a problem so far (knock on wood/metal/fiberglass/etc.).

Paul