98 200 Johnson cylinder head question

[Striper80]

Sounds good. Thanks.

[Striper80]

Was looking at the heads again today and I think I want to replace the gaskets. I was wondering if you prefer factory gaskets or if you use an aftermarket source.

[THEFERMANATOR]

About the same anymore. Alot of the OEM parts are now being made by teh aftermarket. These old carbed engines have been out of production for so long, that it was well before BRP's time. So they outsource them to the aftermarket, repackage them, mark them up 100%, and resell them as OEM.

[Skools Out]

i know the head gaskets say no sealent on them but i've always had better luck with them if i spray copper coat on both sides of the gasket and let it dry over before installing them.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by Skools Out

i know the head gaskets say no sealent on them but i've always had better luck with them if i spray copper coat on both sides of the gasket and let it dry over before installing them.

I use the black PERMATEX aviation grade sealant that comes in a white bottle, and you brush it on. I've used the EVINRUDE stuff as well, but prefer the PERMATEX aviation sealant.

[Striper80]

In searching for the gaskets I found quite a few horror stories about completely rotted out water jackets. Hopefully I won't find that. The engine runs well right now but I'd like to get ahead of a head gasket failure.
Should the head bolts be replaced as well?

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by Striper80

In searching for the gaskets I found quite a few horror stories about completely rotted out water jackets. Hopefully I won't find that. The engine runs well right now but I'd like to get ahead of a head gasket failure.
Should the head bolts be replaced as well?

If it still has the origanal 98 head bolts, no. They were stainless and outlasted the engines. The 93+ blocks were closed deck lost foam castings, and did suffer from quite ab it of corrosion issues since the design allowed places for saltwater to sit and collect without draining away.