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Intake gaskets improved

hgerhardt

Well Known Member
I've been one of the lucky guys who've had to replace the intake gaskets every couple years when they crack. I tried the orange Superior and the gray Lycoming gaskets and neither lasted. My flanges are flat. Ross & Co has a clever redesign which replaces the gasket with an O-ring, but requires sawing and re-welding for the tuned induction engines, which I didn't want to bother with.

Was on McMaster-Carr one day and stumbled upon a gasket-making service they have. Send them a .dxf file and pick a material and they make as many gaskets as will fit on a given size blank. I chose High Temperature Graphite, “Hochdruck”, in 1/16” thickness, which is made of laminated stainless sheet and graphite construction. I reverse-engineered a stock gasket to make a .dxf file, and then ordered and received 20 gaskets for the $161 cost.

I installed those two years ago and so far, zero leaks. The stainless layers hold the gasket together, and the graphite on the faces allows some dissimilar metal movement without stressing the gasket. These are slightly thicker than original, but hold bolt preload well. I’ve checked bolt torque periodically and they’re staying tight. I had to remove one tube in the meantime to fix a cracked oil return line and the gasket looked perfect, except where a bit of graphite peeled off from disassembly.

If you want a dxf file to make your own, send an email to hgerhardt [at] planekool [dot] com. 20 gaskets is way more than you’ll need, so maybe team up with your buddies and split the cost.

https://www.mcmaster.com/gaskets/made-to-order-gaskets/
https://www.garlock.com/product/31280-7104
https://www.sglcarbon.com/en/markets-solutions/component/sigraflex-hochdruck-and-hochdruck-pro/

Used gasket on the right shows the indentation of the intake tube.

20210318_161756.jpg 20220915_152339.jpg
 
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