i finally got the dynamic chamber off. shouldnt have taken so long. anyways. can anyone recommend a gasket remover i could use? like something that will dissolve it/ although im afraid of the crap running into the manifold. any ideas beyond a knife?

 

i just used a knife or gasket scraper, also just stuff some paper towels down the holes so if anything does fall down there you can just pull it out with the towel

 

I use a gasket scraper and some carb cleaner to soften them up. Most gaskets come off pretty easy with that combination at work.

 

The gasket removers you see at the auto parts store suck ***. They probably do work but I've tried it a few times on different ocassions and it never made the job easier. Razor blades have worked wonders for me along with a wire brush attached to a drill. I usually remove most of the gasket with a razor blade and use the wire brush to get the tiny pieces left behind. Theres really no easy way to remove the old gasket.

 

cool, thanks guys!

 

When FC-Chan brought her motor over to rebuild, she brought some Permatex gasket remover. (Maybe other brands suck?) I was dubious, but it worked well on her motor and mine. I learned three important things about this stuff.
First, it needs time to work. If you get too impatient and fail to allow enough time for it so soak in it just doesn't work.
Second is that you have to be pretty liberal with it. Soak the area until it just starts to drip. (The old gasket will slowly soak up a fair bit...)
Third is that the stuff smells really awful. My garage is connected to my dining room and I got a lot of...comments from my housemates while I was cleaning gaskets.
I used fairly light pressure on a fresh razor blade to scrape everything off and then hit the surface with a scotchbrite pad just to be ****-retentive. When I cleaned everything off, I could see the original machining marks.

 

What works really well is getting copper pipe, smashing the ends together, then grinding it kind of sharp. Its softer than aluminum so it won't scatch the manifold and it is almost impossible to gouge the aluminum with it so you can just wail on it with out worrying.

 

you should really put a title corresponding to what your thread is about, people hate that stuff

 

sorry about the title...i was really excited to get that last, damn bolt off. anyways, i got a majority of it off with a razor, and got some gasket remover soaking the stuff i can't get with the knife. it seems to working alright.

 

use a razor blade
it is the solution to everything

 

that's what i've always used.

 

That actually sounds like a really good idea, thanks for sharing.