New Idea for UIM LIM gasket
 

I dont know about everybody els but im damn tired of replacing intake manifold gaskets and/or rtv sealants for the intake manifold seal. So me and my buddy were talking and what if a small groove for an o-ring was machined around each of the 4 intake runners in the mating surface, and the other just sat on top, pretty much the same way the the o-rings work as cooland seals, Groove on one side to seat on and flat suface with pressure to create a great seal. I will draw it up on auto-CAD so you may better understand.

bottom line is anybody interested in an intake manifold seal that is 100% re-usable? I know i am, i am constantly removing the UIM to change injectors, and stuff, just thought it sounds reasonably cheap and easy.

I'm guessing they don't have that because the rubber would get squashed/ + or brittle + break. Like any other Mazda rubber/plastic after several years, it sucks.

New intake gaskets with hylomar works for me. Reusable everytime.

Although the o-ring does some like a good idea, but you would have to seal off each intake runner as well.

ever consider viton, or teflon... i work in the sheet metal union and i see these types of gaskets all the time, they are called sanitary fittings, the use a teflon gasket. industrial food processing uses them in beer factories, dairy, and photato plants. they run milk and steam through these seals at upto 450 f and 200psi for many years. most plants i work in the gaskets are removed and reused, longest ive seen is 12 years, same seal, whatta ya think now, and also yes i have access to both of these material and machinery...

I saw that in a pic a while back. I dont remember what it was on though. It might have been one of the aftermarket intakes. I dont remember:wallbash:

How often do you remove your upper intake and why? :)

Seen it, works well.

There are poly gaskets available on ebay and at other stores. These are S5 N/A. I think I have seen some for S4 N/a and S5/S4 T2 Intakes as well.
http://www.midnightgray.net/images/polygaskets.jpg

BTW, if I need to remove my intake, I remove the LIM, UIM, DC and TB as one whole unit. I have a metal gasket at the engine from Mazdatrix.

I've used those white Teflon gaskets before. They leak. :(

dude a UIM gasket is like $18 or $20 at the dealer. not a big deal

buy a 20" wide roll of gasket materail from napa for $12 iirc, ive made atleast 4 UIM gaskets, a few LIM, water pumps and waterpump housing gaskets, and various other gaskets for friends AND I STILL HAVE SOME LEFT

no, making them/buying them everytime is not the anwser.
i know what the OP is saying, as i too have to take off my UIM several times a month. i see what your saying, and i dont see a downside right off the bat. it acutally sounds like a win/win idea. the big thing would be deciding the new oring material. viton? teflon? rubber? something else im not aware of?

What basically like the newer car manifolds? I work on dogdes and they do that with there manifolds even though we usually replace the o-rings after a while anyways. I've never actually had the stock gasket break anyway though.

dont p-port engines use o-rings?

I just bought stock gaskets from Mazda for $5 each.

so lets recap, o-ring seals uim-lim good idea or bad, and is anybody interested in me possibly staring some kind of trial thread, like i could have it done, maybe leakdown/pressure test it, try a few different o-ring materials, see what works best. Anybody?...

Well I know that with the caddy catera(sp) they use a rubber o-ring as an pp intake maniold, and you are supposed to change them every time the intake is off of the car, and there have been cases that a misshapened recess can cause an intake leak. The cost of these o-rings was a 1.85 a piece(not through the dealer just matching to advanced auto oring section), not to mention the cost of machining, you could have bought a stock pile of OEM intake gaskets.

That's what I was thinking. Put the effort into fixing whatever problem requires regular UIM removal instead... ;)

I've had my UIM off maybe six or seven times in six years, and I'm only on my second replacement gasket. I don't use any goo and I'm careful when separating the manifolds, so the gasket is usually fine to be reused. And they're so cheap anyway you might as well buy a few and hang them on the garage wall for when you need them. Way easier than experimenting with o-rings...

Gonna yank this thread back from the dead. Is anyone aware of if someone makes a metal gasket usable between the UIM and LIM on a TurboII? It appears there was one stock on FDs? Basically the 2 or 3 layer metal type that seal really good regardless of heat like lots of OEMs use on intake to engine and exhaust to engine manifold connections.

I also have to fully clean the mating surfaces every time i take off the UIM...big waste of time...

already been asked- but why do you have to take the UIM off so much that its an issue?

I don't that much but cleaning remnants of the stupid paper gasket off, once is one too many.

I realize it was asked, years ago. I am curious if something new is available.