Head Gasket Replacement

[beemerdreamer]

Hello Guys
Just bought a Cylinder head for the 'ol' X5 which has had a 0.016 skim,
Does anyone know will i need a thicker Gasket as ive had trouble finding anything on tollerences
Dont think the compression will be an issue (stand to be corrected of course)with this amount of skim,more worried about valve clearance
Any help much appreciated

[sharkk001]

Which x5 do you have? Are both cyl heads skimmed?

[beemerdreamer]

Hi Sharkk sorry should have said i have the 3.0i

[sharkk001]

OK well you will be fine with just the regular head gasket.

[beemerdreamer]

Thanks Sharkk very much appreciated

[sharkk001]

Sure not a problem, we are all a e53 botherhood.

[Effduration]

i know this is an old thread, but this doesn't sound right, so I wanted to add my 2 cents and offer different advice. I have pulled and checked six M54 heads and have rebuilt three M54's.

I think Bentley says you can machine up to 0.30mm off an M54 head.
0.30mm is approx 12 thousandths of an inch or 0.012.

There are two sizes of head gaskets for the M54. One is 0.70mm and the other is 1.00mm (difference = 0.30mm). The thicker one is for heads that have been machined.

If the OP really had 0.016 (16 thousandths) of an inch skimmed off the head, he should have certainly used the thicker M54 gasket.

When I look at a similar situation, I will use the thicker gasket if the machinist skims more the 6 thousandths (0.006) - halfway to 12 thousandths

I welcome any comments - differing or otherwise