[kjewer1]

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.