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The team at Cometic has been in the gasket manufacturing business since 1989, when the company started in a tiny office. Today, their facility occupies over 70,000 square feet of manufacturing and development space in Ohio — and some of that space is occupied by their in-house dynamometer test cell.
“We use the dyno for material validation,” says Cometic’s Mike Hupertz.
“And with a potential new material, obviously we have to test it in-house before it can be released to the masses. We also try to simulate some of the real-world scenarios that we see when our customers send their gaskets back in to have the engineering department inspect. We can duplicate an improper clamp load, or an overheating scenario; the list goes on.”
Cometic’s MLx multi-layered extreme head gasket.
The largest portion of the company’s business exists in their multi-layer-steel gasket line, with products available for head gaskets and exhaust gaskets in the automotive marketplace.
“We test a lot of new embossments, to see what works, what doesn’t work, and why; we try to replicate real-world situations,” says Hupertz.
They also glean information from engine manufacturers as new engine platforms are developed.
The company has the luxury of seeing how each individual market develops gasketing materials; how powersports differ from drag racing or the import OE market uses different designs than those applied in the domestic engine market.
The company also works hand-in-hand with many partners on gasket design, development, and testing.
“In a lot of cases, we’ll work side-by-side with the performance aftermarket on specific projects. They’ll come to us and say ‘We have this new engine, with a new block, that has X-amount of cylinder pressure’, and we’ll work with them to design a gasket,” says company founder Bob Gorman.
Many new ideas also sprout from Cometic’s ‘recipe book’.
“We may take an application that might apply to drag racing and use the technology we’ve gained there and test it in a circle track application, or turbocharging; what the dyno does it help to make us proactive instead of reactive. Many of the new engines are very lightweight and have reduced clamp load; we work to develop a product that’s available to the consumer before the need really hits the marketplace. It’s an ongoing process,” Gorman explains.
(Left) The MLX head gasket line uses this rolled edge in the inner shim layer to give extra support to the bore sealing areas of the gasket. (Right) The exhaust gaskets work in the same fashion - the embossments act as a spring to keep tension equalized throughout the sealing surface.
“On a daily basis we have something running on the dyno, testing and developing. There are things that we try to see how it goes. Out of the box thinking on a lot of things, and trying them. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, but that’s what we’re here to do — figure what works from an R & D standpoint,” says Hupertz.
Cometic has a unique strategy when it comes to sealing – each gasket is designed specifically for the intended engine platform and may be unlike other gaskets in the same product line. Depending upon application, the gasket may contain varying numbers of layers, the sealing embossments that are pressed into the gasket’s surface may run face-to-face for one engine and butt up against one another for a different engine, and the layers of gasket will vary as well.
Each head gasket makes use of a Viton sealing surface to protect against leakage should there be any imperfections in the head or block surface, and the company can make custom gaskets as well; they make many custom gaskets for all different types of engines.
The video above shows the company’s dyno in operation with a small-block Chevy two-barrel restricted class engine.
We use the dyno for material validation. – Mike Hupertz, Cometic
Daily testing and product optimization allows the Cometic team to continue product innovation that provides results for their customers.
For more information on the complete line of Cometic gaskets, check out their website.
