head gasket water jacket holes

[cdg1984]

Im in the middle of a head swap. Swapping some double humps with 57cc combustion chambers on my late 70s sbc 350. Im curious as to why the water jacket holes on the gaskets are so small ( both the old one and the new replacement one ). The water jacket itself is probably 1/2 inch, but the holes on the gasket are like the size of a straw. Obviously its the way its supposed to be, but im concerned about over heating since im going to be making more power.

 

[CHRIS.O]

They are made that way to restrict certain areas. I am not an engineer so I cannot explain the exact reasoning behind it but I had that same question years ago. I called Fel Pro and they told me they are made that way to send more coolant to hotter areas. You won't have a problem with cooling. If you do it won't be the head gaskets fault.

Hopefully someone can explain better. I googled it and found a metric sh*t ton of info.

 

[cdg1984]

metric sh*t ton, haha. Yeah I figured it had to do with water pump pressure and things like that, just thought it was a little strange.

 

[pontiacgp]

They are made to regulate the water flow. If the water flows too fast it won't pick up the heat from the block