Anyone working on a 29-31 Cord with a overbore will have some gasket hangover into the cylinder bore. If this Gasket is not centered on the deck of the block the hangover will be more than necessary on one side of the bore and less on the other. Its best to keep this hangover equal and avoid
excessive on one side or the other. One way to do this is get thin wall brass tubing, available at some hardware stores or hobby stores, and use this to center the head gasket. This tubing has a .470 OD and .440 id and is cut it the same length as the head studs. Place two on the front outside studs and two on the second from the rear outside studs. These sleeves will center the head gasket stud holes more accurately and the cyl. head will slide over them during installation. Since they are cut the same length as the studs you can make sure they don't slide up during seating of the head. As you you start the torquing of the head from the center and work your way out each direction simply pull the sleeves out when you get to the studs with the sleeves. This would work with any gasket but it is meant for those using V561 that is only available in standard bore.
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