Fix your truck right the first time and permanently solve your Duramax blown head gasket symptoms with the Norcal Diesel Performance (NCDP) Premium Head Gasket Master Bundle Kit. Engineered specifically for high-stress 6.6L LB7 Duramax engines, this completely customizable top-end rebuild kit gives you the flexibility to swap out failure-prone factory components with heavy-duty, shop-tested solutions.
At the core of this GMP Premium Line kit are our proprietary NCDP Premium Grade C Multi-Layer Steel (MLS) Head Gaskets. Boasting a robust 1.05mm thickness, these Grade C gaskets are absolutely essential when you are installing remanufactured heads or cleaning up warped aluminum heads at the machine shop. They provide critical added deck clearance to prevent costly piston-to-head contact, ensuring a rock-solid, high-pressure seal that can handle heavy towing, hot tunes, and elevated combustion pressures.
Stop buying cookie-cutter kits that lock you into one configuration. Our modular bundle lets you build your ultimate overhaul directly from the drop-down menus below. Choose your fastener loadout, drop in upgrades such as a lower engine gasket kits, Mishimoto thermostats, new injector cups and a Fleece injector hard line kit.
Core Kit Components Included (Base Pricing):
- (2) NCDP Premium Grade C MLS Head Gaskets: Heavy-duty Left and Right side multi-layer steel head gaskets (1.05mm thickness).
- (1) Complete Top End Overhaul Gasket Set: Includes premium exhaust manifold gaskets, valve cover gaskets, intake bridge O-rings, up-pipe gaskets, coolant crossover seals, injector O-rings, valve stem seals, and turbo drain seals.
- (1) TrackTech Head Stud Set or ARP Head Studs at discount pricing: This is a MUST when replacing head gaskets. Improved clamping force, high tensile strength stud kits ensure you're repair is solid, year after year.
Real Tech Advice: Why These Add-Ons Keep You Out Of The Shop.
Tearing down an LB7 Duramax to the bare block is a massive, labor-intensive job. If you are slinging wrenches or paying a diesel shop for this level of tear-down, reassembling the engine with worn-out peripheral parts is just asking for a repeat failure. Here is a straight-talking, non-salesman breakdown of how these upgrades solve real-world problems and save your engine from a catastrophic breakdown.
Fastener Configuration: Tracktech Studs or ARP 2000
The factory torque-to-yield (TTY) head bolts are strictly single-use. Worse, they act like rubber bands when you throw a heavy tune or a big trailer at the truck, causing the cylinder heads to lift and blow out the gasket.
- Tracktech Head Studs offer a massive upgrade in clamping force over factory TTY bolts. They keep the heads firmly anchored to the block on daily drivers and standard towing rigs without breaking the bank. We've run them for years with no issues.
- ARP 2000 Head Studs are the undisputed industry standard for high-performance diesel builds. Boasting an ultimate tensile strength of 220,000 PSI, these studs ensure zero cylinder head movement, making them mandatory if you are running hot tunes, upgraded turbos, or maximum commercial loads.
What To Think About When Performing A Head Gasket Repair
Cylinder Head Upgrades: The 150k-Mile Reality Check
Tech Tip: Once an LB7 passes the 150,000-mile mark, those aluminum cylinder heads have seen thousands of heat cycles. They naturally warp, and it is incredibly common to find micro-cracks around the valve seats. Meanwhile, worn valve guides and hardened valve stem seals start letting oil bypass, leading to that annoying morning smoke, oil consumption, and lost compression.
- While you can send your old heads to a machine shop to get shaved, you drop deck thickness. Upgrading to Fleece Freedom Series Cylinder Heads solves this permanently.
- The Big Fix: Fleece heads feature a cupless injector bore design. The stock LB7 setup uses press-fit steel injector cups with O-ring seals that are notorious for losing their sealant bond. When they leak, the cooling system pressurizes and can leak coolant into the crankcase. Going cupless deletes that entire design flaw from your motor. No more questioning leaks, no fear of a cup coming out during injector replacement. Just solid performance.
Fuel System Overhaul: Injectors & Hard Lines
On an LB7, the fuel injectors live completely underneath the valve covers. Doing an LB7 injector replacement takes hours of tedious labor. If your injectors have high mileage, swapping them while the top end is completely disassembled saves you from a massive secondary labor bill down the road.
- Bosch New or Reman Injectors bring your truck back to strict factory tolerances for crisp, clean fuel delivery.
- S&S Diesel SAC00 Injectors are a massive upgrade. They replace the old, failure-prone factory VCO nozzle design with a robust SAC nozzle, completely eliminating the annoying idle haze and premature body cracking that kills fuel mileage.
- Critical Installation Advice: Never reuse your old, crusty fuel lines. Always opt for the Fleece Performance Injector Hard Line Kit. Over time, the internal walls of the factory lines scale up and pit. When you break them loose and torque them back down, microscopic metal flake and rust scale flake off, shooting straight into your brand-new common-rail injectors. That instantly ruins your new nozzles or sticks an injector wide open, risking a melted piston.
Cooling System Essentials: Giving Your Rebuild a Healthy Start
When performing a major engine rebuild, it is best to clean up what you can while you are in there. Installing a new water pump, thermostat, and radiator while flushing the cooling system is a great way to give your rebuild a healthy start. If your old head gasket was puking coolant, that residual sludge, combustion gas, and scale are likely sitting in your cooling stack right now.
- Water Pumps (Dmaxstore, XDP, Alliant): A fresh pump prevents unexpected leaks from the weep hole right after you get the truck back together. Upgraded pumps feature pinned or welded impellers to prevent the impeller from slipping on the shaft under heavy load.
- Mishimoto Thermostats: Factory stats get tired and stick over time.
- Choose the Low-Temp ("DL") option if you are running in hot climates or dragging heavy trailers to open up the cooling circuit early.
- Choose the High-Temp ("DH") option for cold winter climates to ensure your cab heater actually works and the engine hits its optimal operating temperature.
- Radiators (Mishimoto, Dmaxstore, XDP): Stock radiators rely on plastic end tanks crimped to an aluminum core. With age, those plastic tanks crack and leak. Upgrading to a high-flow aluminum radiator drops your coolant temps and removes the risk of plastic failure under thermal stress.
Maintenance & Fluids
- Glow Plugs & Racor Fuel Filter: Change these while everything is wide open. It is cheap insurance for fast winter starts and proper fuel filtration.
- Premium Fluid Package: Dumping fresh engine oil and heavy-duty diesel coolant is mandatory. If your blown gasket cross-contaminated your fluids, running that old "chocolate milk" mixture will wipe out your main bearings in short order. Give your fresh build the clean "hot sauce" it deserves.
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