Removing fossilized paper gaskets from Intake

[nomov8sho]

Hey all-

I figured I throw this out there in case it can help somebody else. I just finished removing the remains of the paper gaskets from my intake runners and Butterfly assemblies. My best guess is somebody had put them on with that spray-on gasket adhesive.

I started with a scraper- no dice.

Wire wheel- Nope, the gaskets seemed to be harder than the aluminum.

Soaking in brake cleaner, carb cleaner, parts cleaner- all showed some improvement but not much, and the fumes were not friendly.

Finally, out of desparation, I tried test spots of various other garage chemicals.

My best results were with P-B Blaster. It wasn't great, but it did soak in and let me lift most of the stuck areas pretty well with a razor blade gasket scraper. The areas around the bolts required some repeat applications and additional soak time. I spent about 15 hours on the job, all told. I'm guessing it might have taken 2 or 3 hours if I'd known the P-B Blaster trick from the start.

Of course, your results might vary, etc.

Hope this helps somebody out.

Thanks,
-Josh

 

[kevinspann]

Thanks, those gaskets are a pain in the ass.

 

[AREA 91]

I try to get them off in big pieces with a fresh razor blade.

I also have a glass bead cabnet for back-up.:angelnot:

 

[Airborne]

I am glad I read this post before doing some maintenance yesterday. Oil pump gasket was "fossilized". It cut the time down considerably.

 

[TwistedD85]

Oh man, this brings back bad memories of the few days I spent scraping intake gaskets a while back, WD-40, gasket remover, gasket scraper, ugh. What finally worked best was me taking a razor blade in hand and just being really careful and making sure I got under the gasket material, but still night after night of trial and error, makes it a hundred times worse when it's your daily driver.

 

[thundersho]

I just did this and what a pain in the ass.... I just used a straight razor to remove and. Figures are sore but hey its done. what turned out to be just painting the intake turned out being gaskets and 3/4 of a 60k. love my car, love my car, love my car...

 

[msteiny]

I found a die grinder with a 200 grit sanding disk is the ticket.

 

[chrism3784]

Yep. I was just going to post that as I was reading. You beat me DIE GRINDER always works and makes a perfect surface for a new gaskets. It shaves of a microscopic amount of metal so don't go over it to many times.

 

[Airborne]

These work great too. Also, you have to be careful about removing metal, but removes less than sand paper. I have these at home. I wish I had brought them out with me. Not really that expensive to buy, but I didn't have my die grinder out here. But the PB Blaster worked in a pinch.

http://www.levineautoparts.com/3mro3meyebrd.html

 

[itwonder]

These work great too. Also, you have to be careful about removing metal, but removes less than sand paper. I have these at home. I wish I had brought them out with me. Not really that expensive to buy, but I didn't have my die grinder out here. But the PB Blaster worked in a pinch.

http://www.levineautoparts.com/3mro3meyebrd.html

I've been using those 3M Bristle discs for years, and I concur that they are very good. I'm also a big fan of the 3M Roloc Surface Conditioning Discs, both Blue (fine) http://www.levineautoparts.com/3mrolsurcond2.html and maroon (medium) http://www.levineautoparts.com/3mrolsurcond1.html

 

[SHOtime2511]

Wire wheel on a drill works wonders.

 

[chrism3784]

Today had this exact problem, the fossilized paper gasket between the oil pump and block. What I used is of course a die grinder with super grit sanding block just to get it started, then a medium grit pad and a scraper going back and forth. Pain in the ass but worked.

 

[Airborne]

Today had this exact problem, the fossilized paper gasket between the oil pump and block. What I used is of course a die grinder with super grit sanding block just to get it started, then a medium grit pad and a scraper going back and forth. Pain in the ass but worked.

You wouldn't think it, but removing that old oil pump gasket is a B**CH!

 

[msteiny]

Sweet, Something to look forward to when I drop my pan in the next week or so.

 

[SHOVNST]

http://www.levineautoparts.com/3mro3meyebrd.html

These are the best, period. Yellow are for aluminum and green are for steel. DO NOT use green on aluminum or you will not have any aluminum left.....

 

[itwonder]

NAPA/Permatex gasket remover can be helpful too.

 

[SHOZ123]

If it's carbonized oven cleaner will work great and not harm the metal.

 

[Off Road SHO]

EZ-Strip paint stripper works well if you have it laying around. Also used old brake fluid one time on an old chevy.

Tom