Mercruiser 302 Head Gasket?

[n0dih]

A friend of mine has a 1974 Mercruiser 302 Ford that needs a set of head gaskets. He has a couple mid to late 80's 302 car engines around. We were thinking of using the newer design heads for improved power or just cleaning up the old heads.

Either way, can we use an auto head gasket or is there something unique and special about a marine gasket?

The boat will only see fresh water, never salt water.

Thanks!!

[Jango]

An automotive type gasket will work, but unless you have a closed cooling system, you should use a copper or stainless steel clad gasket since antifreeze is not present to help protect the gaskets from corrosion.

[n0dih]

That makes sense. I figured auto parts would have degraded reliability.

Thanks!

[gonzo]

Marine heads have stainless exhaust valves.