PRODUCT DETAILS
Cometic 86.5mm .030" MLS Head Gasket - K20A2/K20A3/K20Z1 (C14079-030)
Building a K20 that's going to see more power, more RPM, or just a lot more abuse than it was designed for? Don't let the head gasket be the thing that ends the build early. This is Cometic's 86.5mm, .030 inch MLS gasket for the K20A2, K20A3, and K20Z1, and it's what a lot of builders reach for once they've decided the factory gasket's days are numbered. It's stacked stainless steel instead of the composite Honda uses, so it handles heat and pressure the stock gasket was never asked to deal with, and you don't need a single drop of sealant to make it work.
Here's How Your Stock Gasket Tells You It's Done
The factory gasket's fine if you're keeping things stock, but there's not much margin built in. Add boost, push the compression, or just run a high-strung K20 hard for years, and that factory gasket starts running out of room to work. You'll know it when you see it: a coolant leak you can't pin down, white smoke out the back, coolant showing up in your oil, or the temp gauge creeping up for no reason you can find. Once you're seeing that stuff, you're not just buying a gasket anymore, you're probably looking at a warped head too. Get ahead of it with an MLS gasket now, especially if you've already turned the engine up, and you're not gambling with a much bigger bill later.
Stacked Stainless, Built To Hold The Line
You're getting three layers of stainless steel here, stacked together for strength and rebound a single-layer gasket just can't touch, plus corrosion resistance that holds up over time. The outer layers are embossed and coated with Viton, a rubber coating rated to 482°F, so it keeps sealing through hard heat cycles instead of cooking and giving up like older gasket materials do. Since it's MLS, it's built for exactly what you've got, an aluminum head clamping onto an aluminum block, and it shrugs off the shearing forces between those two metals without any extra sealant. Bolt it in and it does its job, that's it.
No Re-Torque, So You Can Forget About It
Here's a small thing that saves you a real headache. Cometic tunes the embossing so the clamp load spreads evenly across the whole sealing surface the second you torque it down. You're not coming back in a few hundred miles to re-torque the head bolts like some gaskets make you do, and you're not risking an uneven clamp warping the head either. Torque it once to spec and walk away. If you're already deep into a head job, studs, or chasing down a leak, that's one less thing you've got to remember six months from now.
Make Sure This Is Your Bore
Real talk before you buy: 86.5mm isn't the K20's stock bore, it's a 0.5mm overbore. If your block's been bored out to 86.5mm, this is your gasket. If you're still running the stock 86mm bore, you'll want the 86mm version instead, not this one. The .030 inch thickness is built around stock deck height and compression, so if you're milling the head or chasing a different compression ratio, Cometic makes this in other thicknesses too. Match it to your actual block, not just your engine code, because the wrong bore or thickness won't seal right no matter how perfectly you torque it down.
Fits These Engines
This gasket's built for the K20A2, K20A3, and K20Z1, which covers the 2002-2006 Acura RSX Base, 2002-2006 Acura RSX Type S, and 2002-2005 Honda Civic Si. While you've got the head off, it's worth thinking about head studs too. Stock head bolts stretch once you're making real power, and studs keep your clamping consistent for the long haul. Do both at once and you've built yourself a gasket setup that can take a lot more than stock without you having to think about it again.
What You Get
- Cometic MLS head gasket (C14079-030) for the K20A2, K20A3, and K20Z1
- 86.5mm bore, .030 inch compressed thickness, for a 0.5mm overbore
- 3 layers of stainless steel for strength and corrosion resistance
- Viton coating on outer layers, heat resistant to 482°F
- Even clamp load embossing, no re-torque needed after install
- Built for aluminum head to aluminum block applications
- No additional sealant required
Fits These Cars
- 2002-2006 Acura RSX Base (K20A3)
- 2002-2006 Acura RSX Type S (K20A2/K20Z1)
- 2002-2005 Honda Civic Si (K20A3)
Note: Cometic MLS head gasket (part number C14079-030) for the K20A2, K20A3, and K20Z1, 86.5mm bore, .030 inch compressed thickness, for the 2002-2006 Acura RSX Base, 2002-2006 Acura RSX Type S, and 2002-2005 Honda Civic Si. Built from 3 layers of stainless steel with outer layers embossed and coated in Viton, heat resistant to 482°F, for strength, corrosion resistance, and a seal that holds through repeated heat cycles. Designed for aluminum head to aluminum block applications and requires no additional sealant. The embossing design distributes clamp load evenly across the sealing surface, so no re-torque is needed after installation. The 86.5mm bore is for a 0.5mm overbore from the stock 86mm, so confirm your block has been machined to this size before ordering, and confirm thickness against your build if you've milled the head or changed compression. One head gasket per order.