The Gasket Kit

Is this the right kit I need? It's for a 99' 5.3

 

To be perfectly honest .... I reused all mine. I'd question the water pump and MAYBE the timing cover gasket. You do not need to remove the heads to swap out a cam.

 

yep, that's what i used but damn their price went up. (doubled cough)

 

I got new h20 pump gaskets, but reused the timing cover gasket....
and a new bolt of course!!!

 

I reused all my gaskets, only had 9,000 miles on them though. Get yourself some RTV for the bottom side of the timing cover gasket.

 

I have almost 115,000 on mine.. So I figured I better get some new ones. Im hoping the motor will last a little while longer, lol.

What is RTV?

 

they are reusable so why waste money

 

So just use my stock ones? Even after those miles?

 

Man, that kit was 30somthing bucks when I bought it

Alot of guys re-use their old gaskets and don't seem to have a problem...not me, epsecially on gaskets that require a little bit of time and work if you hve to replace them twice. At the very least, I'd replace the water pump and timing cover gaskets...I've seen alot of guys have problems with their water pump gaskets even on vehicles that haven't been modded and the gaskets haven't even been touched (my friend's are leaking right now and he hasn't done squat to his engine). Just seems silly to re-use them and chance having to drain all the coolant again, remove the fan (if equipped), etc. etc. The timing cover gasket requires a little bit of work, and the crank seal...well, there's both pressure and rotation there, and it's gonna get moved and dragged across the crank shaft then re-installed if not replaced...no thanks, not me. But that's just me...I'm **** and over-cautious, and I absolutely HATE doing the same job twice for something stupid that I could have handled the first time around.

Valve cover gaskets on the other hand...if I replaced them every time I removed my valve covers I'd have 50 once used valve covers laying around. I'm just sure to check and make sure that they're soft and squishy and not cracked or sliced every time I pull them off, then re-use them.

It's basically a judgement call...and you have to look at your budget, what'll give you piece of mind, and ask yourself if you wanna roll the dice or dump the cash.

BTW, the SDPC pic shows head gaskets in there...those don't come with a cam install kit...if I remember correctly, you get vcg's, timing cover gasket, crank seal, water pump gaskets, and a new crank bolt...I might be missing something but that's what pops to mind.

 

I've done 2 cam swaps over 34k miles, including a rod bolt/bearing swap (removing the oil pan) once and had no leaks yet. Granted the motor is shot now, but it never leaked any fluids.

None of the above had anything to do with the motor letting go.