Larry Jaques writes:

I used to use long-fiber wheel bearing grease on that material to
give it a longer life. They dry out terribly without it. Goop up
the cut gasket, let it sit for half an hour to soak in, then
carefully wipe off the excess. Gas will eat away any grease within
the carb body, but the grease will keep the gasket from sticking to
the carb (or, worse, a timing chain cover), so it is easier the next
time you rebuild.

Here'e a related question:

40 years ago I was a foreign car mechanic (back when "foreign car"
meant something :-). My recollection is that I used Permatex HiTack,
the candy-apple red, aerosol, non-hardening gasket sealer to seal carb
gaskets, fuel lines, fuel settling bowl gaskets etc. whenever there
was a leakage problem. Worked reliably. And it was *impervious* to
gasoline, had to use lacquer thinner to remove it. Any other Old
Geezers have the same recollections?

Because more recently, a few years ago, I had to seal a problem
settling bowl on a Wisconsin air-cooled. Leaked like a sieve.
Experiments showed that gasoline quickly dissolves and cleans off
HiTack very well. New can from store, same. New can sent directly
from Permatex, same.

Is it new gas additives/composition? Changes in the produst that even
the engineer at Permatex didn't know about? My memory has a huge hole
in it?

Is there a similar, alternative non-hardening, spray-on gasket sealer
that's impervious to gasoline (and diesel, for that matter)?

ObMetalworking: The Wisconsin was intended to drive a 300# air hammer
but turned out not to be big enough. A 3-cyl Deutz diesel *is* big
enough.

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada