PRI 2025: Cometic Debuts DST Head Gaskets for 1500+ HP

Boost is great until you push a little too much. It is the accepted risk of modern horsepower; as soon as you bolt on a turbo or blower, the head gasket becomes the fuse. Cometic arrived at PRI 2025 with a new answer for engines living in that dangerous territory. Their new DST head gaskets are engineered to keep the combustion seal intact without forcing you to pull the engine for expensive machine work.

DST Head Gaskets of Cometic — This is the new seven-layer DST head gasket from Cometic. It is designed to work in the most extreme applications.

Inside the Seven Layers

The acronym “DST” stands for Dual Stopper Technology. Basically, Cometic took their proven MLX design and doubled down on the reinforcement. These gaskets use a seven-layer construction featuring two integrated stainless steel stopper layers folded directly into the stack. When you torque the head down, those stoppers create a concentrated ring of pressure around the bore. That extra clamping force helps stop the cylinder pressure from pushing past the seal, which also helps keep the bore round under load.

DST Head Gaskets of Cometic (2) — Also seen in the Cometic booth at PRI is this MLX Multi-Layer Extreme gaskets. It incorporates a center stainless steel later that is precision folded. This “stopper” design improves clamp load and provides local stress and sealing integrity around the combustion chamber without increasing bore distortion.

The Gap Between Street and Race

Brendan Chess from Cometic described these as the “last bolt-on solution.” That is the best way to look at them. Once you surpass the limits of a standard MLS gasket, your only option used to be machining the block for O-rings and receiver grooves. The DST head gaskets fill that void. They are rated for 1,500-plus horsepower, making them perfect for drag-and-drive builds or no-prep cars that need race-level sealing reliability but still want to use off-the-shelf components.

DST Head Gaskets of Cometic (3) — This is Cometic’s fully embossed Multi-Layer Steel (MLS) gasket. It uses fully embossed active combustion seals located on the outer edges of the gasket. Optional shim laters can be added to tailor the overall gasket thickness to specific engine requirements.

What Do They Fit?

Cometic rolled these out for the most common heavy hitters first. You can get them for Gen-III Hemi, GM LS, and GM LT engines right now. They were smart about the bolt patterns, too; the LS and LT gaskets are ready for both 4-bolt and 6-bolt blocks and are pre-cut to accept beefy 1/2-inch head studs. They work on standard factory decks and aftermarket iron blocks like Dart, though you cannot use them on sleeved aluminum blocks just yet. A Coyote version is coming down the pipeline soon.