Why is the head gasket change $1200 for parts?
- Thread starter Nuck
- Start date
BADVENOM
Enthusiast
upgraded metal gaskets...VIPERTAX...LOL but talk to chuck at tators he'll give you vca members discount..lol
adam
adam
Tom Welch
Enthusiast
699 from us.
Jay Herbert
Enthusiast
Tom's right..... closer to $700. Yep, the dreaded Viper "gasket tax". There are a lot of gaskets involved, and none of them are cheap (just to few Vipers made for any aftermarket sets to be made available, so we are stuck with OEM pricing), the more expensive ones in the mix are the header gaskets, head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and intake gaskets. I think you buy what is called an upper end gasket set and a head gasket set. Tom Welch would know, as would any of the tuners as they must buy them by the trailer load, of course the parts folks like Tator, The Parts Rack and Woodhouse must sell tons as well.
Bill B
Enthusiast
Hey Adam, I touched your new valve covers yesterday. 
ROCKET62
Has Left the Room!
Seems like I recall a discussion that said you could get the head gaskets significantly cheaper from Arrow.
1TONY1
Enthusiast
Complete gasket pieces to install heads/cam for under $500 for a gen2.....don't know if they are the same.
If you do the gaskets you may want to surface the heads,
grind the valves, replace the thermostat and replace most the rubber hoses (they are about 10 years old).
grind the valves, replace the thermostat and replace most the rubber hoses (they are about 10 years old).
Larry Macedo
Enthusiast
Our Installation kit includes: Gaskets, fluids, bolts, thermostat, etc. $800.00
Jay Herbert
Enthusiast
I forgot about the head bolts.. a good idea to put new ones in, that brings the cost up to that $800 number. The Mopar bolts are good stuff, ARP bolts are a option.
People might argue all day about if you need to replace the head bolts. If the bolts are not torque to yield bolts, you really should replace them. It seems counter-intuitive, but if a bolt is installed using the torque to yield method, it CAN be reused IF if it is properly torqued to yield again.
Non-engineers will argue all day that when a bolt is yielded, it is shot. Not the case, most bolts have hundreds of degrees of rotation after yield before the curve "goes south", and when installed with DC servo drivers that monitor the actual yield curve, the driver stops as few as 15 degrees of rotation after yield initiates. Neat stuff, accept this sort of driver and controller costs $12,000 and up. If the bolt is in the yield portion of the curve it has 1) maximum clamping force possible for the individual bolt, 2) no cyclic fatigue load, 3) variation in joint geometry and threads does not affect torque process.
Torque to yield is gradually making it's way into Automotive (led by the Japanese), but it is a tough path as the actual bolt torque becomes the secondary parameter.... meaning Quality Control folks do not have any direct measurement method when bolts are torqued this way.
History lesson, One of the Dodge Brothers invented the torque wrench (while making/selling parts for/to Henry Ford).
Bottom line, replace the bolts on the Viper because they do not use torque to yield. They are installed with DC drivers, they do not run the torque to yield program.
People might argue all day about if you need to replace the head bolts. If the bolts are not torque to yield bolts, you really should replace them. It seems counter-intuitive, but if a bolt is installed using the torque to yield method, it CAN be reused IF if it is properly torqued to yield again.
Non-engineers will argue all day that when a bolt is yielded, it is shot. Not the case, most bolts have hundreds of degrees of rotation after yield before the curve "goes south", and when installed with DC servo drivers that monitor the actual yield curve, the driver stops as few as 15 degrees of rotation after yield initiates. Neat stuff, accept this sort of driver and controller costs $12,000 and up. If the bolt is in the yield portion of the curve it has 1) maximum clamping force possible for the individual bolt, 2) no cyclic fatigue load, 3) variation in joint geometry and threads does not affect torque process.
Torque to yield is gradually making it's way into Automotive (led by the Japanese), but it is a tough path as the actual bolt torque becomes the secondary parameter.... meaning Quality Control folks do not have any direct measurement method when bolts are torqued this way.
History lesson, One of the Dodge Brothers invented the torque wrench (while making/selling parts for/to Henry Ford).
Bottom line, replace the bolts on the Viper because they do not use torque to yield. They are installed with DC drivers, they do not run the torque to yield program.
