Get the head off and measure tha gasket.
At least spares should be available from a lot more places than some engines
You need the notches to be able to get the right gasket. Now surely, even BMW aren't so stupid as to make those invisible??
No direct experience of these beasties, but others similar.... Apologies if you already know this....
The 'notches' should either be small peaks showing out of the edge of the head/block face towards the front (easy access) and to one side. (dohh!!
) Sometimes the sneeky beggars make them as valleys instead of peaks (prinking shears type effect) so that you are minutely looking for 'valleys' in the head/block join rather than peaks sticking out, if you follow. Over time the dust/dirt/oil/crud fills these valleys so that they dissapear.
The peaks/nicks are intended as a means to ID the new gasket thickness in the packet rather than what size required on the original machine before stripdown.
Reason being that if a head is removed for machining, a correspondingly thicker gasket, as referenced from manuf manuals for orig thickness and tables including machining removed, is requested to maintain comp ratio.
As said, no experience of Beemer bits but played with assorted engines/piston compressors over the years.....
HtH
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Topic: 2.5TD Head Gasket - Notches? (Read 2881 times)