Any particular recommendation for the headgasket? I was looking at ac delco , one side is gold with writing on it and the other side is metal. Which one goes to top and which buttom? It doesn’t have up sign just writing on the gold side

 

I used an Evergreen Auto head gasket that came as part of a rebuild kit from Mizumo Auto. So far, after about 2500 miles post rebuilt it is holding up well, although it is still way too early to see how it holds up in the long run. If I could do it over again, I would go with either AC Delco, or a Felpro.

Regardless of the brand, the head gasket should only fit 100% properly one way and one way only, so you shouldn’t have to worry about which side goes up, etc.; just align the holes up for all of the bolts/coolant passages and you’ll be fine.

If you don’t have the two dowel pins installed near cylinders 1 & 4, I would definitely recommend reinstalling the old ones, or buying new ones and installing them. Without them, I could not for the life of me keep the head gasket aligned properly when adding the cylinder head back to the engine. After installing the dowel pins, it was a piece of cake.