YB O-ringed block.

Wire Rings these days equal headaches. You are very limited to which gasket you can use...I think the original YB0611 GrpA gasket will be no good due to the stainless ring inside the fire ring area of the gasket. It prevents the headgasket from sealing properly(coolant) as the wire rings press against this instead of sinking into the gasket as they are intended and therefore hold the head off the block while sealing the cylinders. While researching this recently I was told by a few people in the UK that with wire rings you need to use a YB1261...although I havent seen one of these gaskets stripped to know if it has the same rings in the gasket as the YB0611. In the end, we left the orings out and found a cometic gasket would still seal as the oring groove was between ridges on the gasket. A Reinz WRC gasket would not work as one of the sealing ridges was right on the oring groove. I spent months trying to find this stuff out with no one having definative answers...this method has now been tried and tested in an engine which has now been running reliably for nearly 12 months. The only variable will be the radius of the o ring groove, as to which steel gasket can be used.

Hi Brett,
 
If they are copper, they defeat the purpose of being there, they are usually made from .040" piano wire. The protrusion is set at around .010" from memory.
 
Cheers,
 
Phil.

Here is a pic of my intake port. It looks like its had some work. What do ya think?