Thanks! We have been working on this 24v build for a while and originally didn't think that we were going to need anything more than the standard VP head gasket, but we found out that our piston protrusion was on the high side. Since this is going to be a daily driver we wanted to do as much as we could to keep the compression up on it. That led us to have to modify our own head gasket, but we could hardly find any info on how to do it. And so we compiled what we could into this video.

So your plans r to just drill it out with a press? This is how I did it Great video good info for all the vp guys

I actually don't know if I need it yet I have to measure the piston pultrusion I had the intake valves sunk to 50 thousands hopefully and clear but I need to measure I think my furthers piston was about 33 thousands is that too much?

@@ProjectsPat check out cutterup rob he explains all that kinda stuff in his videos a lot of great info on cummins engines

Thank you sir

You are Super Welcome and thanks for the Comment! Hope it helps you out cause we thought we had gone nut when we couldn't find an oversized head gasket for a vp truck!!! And the people who modify them charge a fortune for them!!!

@@70440chargerhow exactly did you guys cut the gasket? Knife, drill bit?

Hey there! Thanks for swinging by. We go through each hole during the video and I made a graphic that is the last 3ish minutes of the video. Hopefully that helps you out some!

Hi William. Yes. We have been running it for several months now. It is on a compound turbo motor and has held 65- 70 psi with headstuds and good surface prep. We also tried to be very careful when modifying the head gasket.

@@70440charger thank you so much this helps so much you all do Kick-Ass work love the channel I was really leery about drilling the holes but after this video and you talking to me I'm going to go ahead and do it thanks again

Hey Mark! Thanks for the message and compression specs! We also would have loved the compression bump, but we opted for the extra room because it was getting tight on piston to valve clearance after decking the head and block! But, we are 100% with you, more compression, the better for what we do! Thanks adding to the conversation here!

@@70440charger I always wondered where cummins made up the bump in compression . Can't be the head as there is no bowl . It's either the piston , head gasket or piston bowl. I know both the bowl and headgasket thickness change after 02. The head gasket did get thinner. Half mm I believe. Piston bowl went from 145 to 135 degrees . Maybe be a bit of both. I know the 24v 2nd gen HO compression ratio in 17:5.1 the difference is in the piston there .

@@markrich7823 Just in case someone reads through here, I figured I would add on some extra info that might help someone. 1. We had asked about running a H.O. piston in this build. We were told that we didn't need to. That is technically correct, and if we were NOT planning on buying new pistons, that would have been great advice. However, we did buy new pistons, and we had very specific goals for this motor, and we really should HAVE gotten the H.O pistons. It is a no brainer if you are building the motor from the ground up. More compression on a street truck is a good thing and helps with, not only top end power, but cold starts, idle haze and low end (preboost) power. It's well worth it if you have the option. Is it a must for a running truck? No, but it's something we now do on every vp44 build we play with. 2. After re-reading this, I should have explained that we needed the thicker gasket because the block had been decked a good bit, and we no longer had the piston to valve clearance we needed... the piston was protruding much more than factory, and this was our work around. We kept the gasket as tight as we could to not lose any more compression. The H.O. pistons and the S.O pistons are the same height and do not protrude anymore... The compression is made up in the bowl. I am sorry for the confusing wording on the previous post. It had been a long day already! We try very hard to make our posts accurate and, as fact based, as possible.