Kevin in Atlanta

I did this for my personal consumption. I use studs exclusively for my oil pans.

I hired someone to measure match the block curves as closely as possible and locate the holes. It took a lot of attempts ($$$). I wanted a version that was not too tight and not too loose.

At the end of it I figured out that there were differences in the block castings and the hole locations. No perfect version.

So, I decided to oblong the holes and this what I ended up with. The gasket is 1/64" thick. That leaves me with a gasket that won't tear or rip. (I've ruined a couple of other gaskets in the thicker gasket version.)

Also the gasket self centers. Again I only work with studs and most if not all of the engines I work on are on an engine stand when I change oil pan gaskets. So that is important to me.



The gasket material is not cheap.

Petza914

Nice. This looks like the same material Greg uses for his new OPG.

Kevin in Atlanta

And Roger, too. The material is laser cut. That limits the thicknesses I can use.

Bertrand Daoust

Nice job Kevin.

slownrusty

That's great...nice job.
The self centering is a great idea with the ovalized holes, as it can be a bit tight and at least you do not have to worry about over stressing the material.
I've done it both ways with studs and the OEM M6 bolts, I prefer the bolts myself.

Kevin in Atlanta

The ovalized holes allow more gasket material between the stud/hole and the block edges, too.

RennHarry

Kevin, very impressive.

Cheers

icsamerica

That material may be too thin. We need a thicker setup with a very forgiving and compliant neoprene seal. Something like an LS gasket. Why? Because the pan is flat and wide and will grow about a 16th of inch more than the block and when it grows it will cup and reshape a bit. Oil gets very hot, much hotter than the block because the block is water cooled and the pan is oil heated, Oil temps can be much higher than coolant temps. Not usual for oil to approach 280 degrees, This is probably why Porsche used a thick cork gasket and why the Audi V8 successor to our beloved V8 used an steel oil pan. Sheet steel pans will give and conform but that will never happen for a 928 so I think a better idea is a on-ring style steel core gasket. I have no ability to do this at the moment but here is what I'd do. Use existing gasket as a pattern for a steel core , then a-fix 1/2 or D shaped o-ring material to each side. Voila, a leak resistant LS style pan gasket. Send-cut-send could probably make the steel core but the 1/2 o-ring material would need to be applied manually.

Kevin in Atlanta

Thanks for that information. GB's gasket is wider a nd thicker than my version. Maybe that was his thinking too.

I will keep an eye on this on my daily driver.

GregBBRD

Actually, my oil pan gaskets are made in two thicknesses. Thin, like you have made and the thicker version, like Roger.......made.

While I've tested both versions in all different scenarios, I prefer the thinner gasket between the block and my pan spacer (both are always extremely flat) and the thicker version between the block/my pan spacer and oil pans.

I've not had any issues with either thickness gasket cracking, tearing, failing, or leaking in any senario.

I've used both studs, hex headed bolts, cap screws, hex headed bolts with integral washers, and a mixture of hardware on my custom dry sump oil pans (because of necessity.)
Everything/anything works, without any issues, since the gasket doesn't compress much (just enough to seal) with the hardware at full torque.

It's fantastic material, with the only issue being the cost, as Kevin mentioned.

ROG100

Only issue with the material is shipping - must be flat and well protected or the clowns will destroy it.

mkhargrove

i used the orange (thick) replacement and added a bit of thin coat of the gasket maker material...it seemed to hold the gasket in place very well (I don't have studs, so I understand the problem of movement while trying to bolt the pan up). I made it "fit" just enough to feel like the pressure flattened the gasket maker material, then tightened after it had time to set up. I don't have any leaks going on 3 years. I know that you wouldn't go to this effort unless you had a problem you were trying to solve, but I'm not sure that I'm understanding exactly what problem you're attacking....what am i missing??? I'm assuming that the orange gaskets could easily leak around the holes if the holes are significantly larger than the stud/bolt and they move to the side during install?