Headgasket... MLS? Copper? Graphite?

Hey all;
Just got my gasket set in today for my head and it came with a graphite head gasket. With my rebuild, what would be the best route for me to go? Should I stick with that, get a MLS, or go copper? The head was milled and flattened, so it's straight. I heard with MLS, you really need it flat for it to work right. Now, I'm not doing anything else major for a while. Next time I tear the head off though will be if I ever get around to building a block. So what do you guys think would be the best choice for me?

By graphite, do you mean the grey/silver composite stock type gasket?

If you are not milling the block, I would stick to composite or the factory MLS gasket. On the 2g I had tried other gaskets, but I was still a big fan of the stock composite gasket. The final build with the T67 was done using one of these. People make 600 whp on those things. Not bad for 30 bucks!

The EVO comes stock with a Mitsu MLS gasket. Same thing you guys get except that it would probably be from an EVO3 or earlier. The price on it is only 35 bucks for the EVO, I seem to remember the one for the DSMs being 80-90 dollars. At any rate, this gasket seems to do well also. I wasn't making as much power as the 2g did last season, about 475 whp with the nitrous, but it's taken that with no issues. I have no plans to change it out for this season, where the car should be up around 550 whp with the new turbo and the nitrous.

I don't think you can go wrong with either option. Getting into the cometics and similar can be a hassle though unless you build the block and head specifically to work with those kinds of gaskets. At very high HP levels, this is the way to go. But I would put it off as long as possible.

Yeah the graphite is a grayish, almost cardboard feel to it. Looks like the pistons are lined with a litte stronger material though.

So basically my best bet is to goto the dealership and just pick up a stock gasket then? I decided to stay away from Cometics because I'm not running any turbo setup yet so for the meantime, just want something good enough to hold up to 300hp max (even though I'm not putting down that much yet).

stock hg will work fine. You need a special surface done to the head and block to run the mls metal hg. 2 of us on here are going through the same issues right now with pushing coolant due to not getting the head and block done. After reading what kevin said about the stock graphite hg i might try that root before i go with the sce copper hg.

EDIT* does the stock evo mls gasket just like the mls 4 layer metal hg that you buy for $100? or does it have graphite in it like a stock hg? I really think i am going to try the 2g stock HG with my arp studs.

This is the first time I've ever heard of any graphite content in the stock composite gasket. Anyone know if that's true? At any rate, yes the EVO8 gasket is the same type as the 100 dollar one. Unfortunately I do not believe an 8 gasket will work on a DSM, but I have to wonder if the price on the 3 gasket woudln't have come down with the 8 gasket available so cheap...

Probably easiest to just stick with the genuine Mitsu composite gasket. I was running 65 lbs/min on them without any issues until I ran 13.5:1 (255 pump beyond it's limits) and lifted the head. It should also act like a fuse in some ways and let go before catasrophic engine internals failure. Those are cheap too, in the 35 dollar range and readily accessible.

Ok then. The HG that came in the set basically is an OEM gasket, so I'll just use that one. It looks strong and seems to be the way to go.

Thanks Kevin and Talon.

What brand gasket set is this? I've never used any besides Mitsu. I had heard some people had acceptable results with parts store kits (felpro, etc), but I can't provide any personal experience with them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-99-NEON-AVENGER-TALON-ECLIPSE-2-0L-HEAD-GASKET-420A_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33665QQitemZ170093 564257QQrdZ1

This is it.