On Sun, 20 Apr 2014 06:56:01 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On 20 Apr 2014 00:46:52 -0300, Mike Spencer
wrote:


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?

I remember the old amber/red (mercurochrome-looking) stuff which
hardened andwas a royal bitch to remove. Lord, I hated that stuff.

Was HiTack the stuff which looked like liquid bluing that had gelled?
If so, I remember it. I think it was the very first silicone gasket
sealer on the market. Back then, gasket material in half a dozen
different textures and thicknesses were available at every auto parts
store in town. I always opted for gluing the gasket to the removable
part if it was subject to shifting, but never to the engine block,
heads, or timing cover if at all possible. Then I'd grease the other
side so it left a clean surface and came right off. I remember the
glued-on mess left of an aluminum timing cover was stuck to the block
with hardening adhesive/sealer. Grr...

No, hitack was a bright red product - more like a paint.. Not sure if
it is still available as a spray, but the msds for the brush-on
indicated it is Acetone, Methyl Ester of Rosin, N-Hexane, Rosin, and
Acrylonitrile Butadiene polymer


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?

Yes, most likely. It's probably being dissolved by the alcohol in the
fuel, and maybe even some of the new, highly-toxic additives. None of
that was around way-back-when. (And it shouldn't be around today,
damnit. I lost over fifteen percent of my gas mileage to the bloody
oxygenated fuel we use today. I'm just glad it's E15, not E85. I
can't imagine how gutless engines would be on that.)


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.

Pictures, man! Pictures!