I decided to try making my first custom gasket today. I learned that I need for sharper tools to do this.
I need to make three gaskets (above) that are used to either seal the 2 plenum halves (right), seal the throttle body to the plenum (top left) or the oil filler to the plenum (bottom right).
I chose the oil filler gasket as my first sample.
I traced out the original on the fiber material. This gasket material is quite a bit thicker, but the other one of course was compressed for 41 years so who knows what it started out life as.
I’m happy I listened to the guy at Jegs and bought a set of hole punches. These at least came out nice and the punch can easy go through the material once hammered.
Trying to actually cut out the shape with a razor blade was not so easy.
The blade, while brand new, can’t go through the whole layer. This resulted in several not so clean cuts that I had to go over again and again and then from the other side.
But… it kind of looks like the original.
Well. It kind of fits. Needs a lot of work.
What’s odd is that the inner hole was traced fairly well from the original. Yet it really isn’t even the shape.
I’m wondering if in fact a modern silicone gasket maker liquid may not be a better idea here. A thin layer coating, compress the two parts to seal. I wonder.
I suppose with a sharp enough blade I could then cut any excess off.
Obviously, I’m going to need some far sharper tools, perhaps a real heavy-duty set of scissors, to cut this material cleanly.