gvink

I've been happily removing the intake manifold, etc. on my '87 NA to fix a leaking fuel line (some *!@@#(^*&%^ idiot used the WRONG SIZE for a four-inch rubber hose between two fuel rails), remove the injectors for cleaning, etc., and I have a couple of gasket questions:

1) On my car, the gasket between the intake manifold and the side of the engine that is SUPPOSED to be metal was only cardboard. What consequences, if any, would that have had? (I have a correct metal gasket as a replacement, so this is idle curiosity, I hope).

2) For the cardboard gaskets on other surfaces, do people use commercial gasket sealer, Vaseline or leave 'em bare? And if using Vaseline as a "release agent" (as I've read here) is good one one side, then why not on both sides? As many of us know, removing baked-on gaskets is one of life's less enjoyable chores.

also, made the fascinating discovery that my six-ports weren't working because somebody had mounted the actuators WITHOUT A GASKET OF ANY KIND -- just some silicon stuff.

Thanks.

Roy James

my gasket was cardboard type as well, and it was a BITCH to remove, when i replaced my gaskets after getting my ports working i used that "gasket in a tube" silcon ****, just for temporary. works fine. i have a feeling it is going to be a bitch to get off as well, and as for that lubing up gaskets, i dont know, i always heard just slap them on there or use sealer if the manifold is warped. like i have said many times, i'm no mechanic. have phun and hopefully someone else will post on here with a little bit better advice, haha.

HAILERS

I look at the mating surfaces and say to myself * If I'M going to have to scrape off a gasket in the future, which part is it going to be easier to scrape on?* I put the release agent on the most difficult side to scrape off so that if the parts are seperated and the gasket sticks, it will be the easier part that the gasket gets retained on. Say a Bac valve. Which is easier to scrape on, the bac that you can sit in a chair with or the engine? Not a big deal one way or the other. I just got tired of scraping gaskets off engine parts that the previous owners thought had to have gobs of sealant on them for them to seal. Ain't so. That said, I along with half the rx world leave the gasket off the front cover and use rtv, but thats mostly due to being sold the wrong front gasket with the rebuild kit. If its Sunday and I replace the water thermostat and the gasket is suspect I'll use some red rtv, but I usually pay a price later when I take it off later in the year to put a summer thermostat in. I use nothing on that metal gasket b/t the intake and engine.

tesla042

I was under the impression, for some reason, that the lower manifold->block gasket was cardboard from the factory... and, only recently, did they come out with a metal replacement one.. Either way, my 87 was cardboard also.

-Tesla

ItsNiceToBurnRice

I did my intake last week and mine was cardboard too. That ****** was completely blown out, only like half of it was left. As for the acuators not working because of missing gaskets-is that true? My gaskets were gone there too so I just used some high temp RV silicone, you know the orange stuff. And since I just put my gasket on I know I torqued it to specs and I thought I heard it leaking today cause I got under and checked my manifold to downpipe and it was fine. But there is still a little noticeable rumble comin out of there. My only symptoms of my blown gasket was that my car wouldnt idle, I had to keep on the gas to keep her alive. What were some of your guys' problems with the blown gasket, just in case I have the horrible luck of my new metal one leaking.

gvink

the sealing surfaces for the actuators are so small that i'd be skeptical that there's enough area for the stuff in a tube to seal properly. But if it works, I would assume there's nothing wrong with it. the only problem is that it's hard to tell if the actuators are working or not.

in the case of my car (no gaskets used when they replaced the actuators), they had done an incredibly slipshod job, so it was quite obvious that the air pressure was going nowhere. and the gaskets are like $2 each