At the advice of this forum, I tracked down the sister of the guy who did the 6/1 head gaskets at Gaskets To Go. She still had a few left over and I ordered three, and they look beautiful. Nice fire ring, siliconed paper, and a built-up area of silicone around the water jacket passages. They look great.
I'm running a 1999 Metro 6/1.
I checked the head for warp, and it's good. I had the cylinder decked by a professional shop and got the cylinder liner cut from a protrusion of 0.011" (yikes...!) down to 0.003", so everything seems to be in nice spec, according what what I have researched both on this forum and in other places.
The thing is this: I torque the head down to 150ft/lbs in the standard criss-cross tightening pattern, stepping the torque values up in about 20-lb increments from 50 up to 150 (as far as my wrench will indicate).
The thing is the engine runs great, but it weeps coolant (standard green glycol) over time. Not a puddle, but the head gasket is always wet and every now and then, a drip slides down the outside of the cylinder and collects at the base gasket.
I took it apart, and used Hylomar sealant on the next gasket and socked it down again. It still leaked. I'm thinking that the fire ring is maybe too thick and it all torques up before the edges seal, or the fire ring is make of steel that's too tough and it's not crushing enough.
So, the question is: what can I do differently, or what other brand gaskets can I get that others have had success with? Maybe 150ft-lbs is the wrong value? I'm using the numbers I found, but am open to advice!
Thanks in advance!
--Justin