hi guys,
the head gasket in my EL xr6 has gone and i was hoping to replace it with an AU head gasket. i heard the AU ones are metal and last longer and also they are thinner so more compression . only thing is i heard the cut outs in the gasket for the water jackets in an AU gasket are a different shape to that of the EL block, is this bad and has anyone done this before???

thanks in advance

AU steel gasket is fine to use in the EL. This is nothing new and has been done many many times before. Just make sure you get the head straightened and use new head bolts.

Will be fine.

Use the AU head gasket a much better one and yes new head bolts have fun getting the old ones out some times they are a bugger i have even resorted to welding a extension bar onto them to get the hard ones out.

or a wheel nut

or a cheap socket