Deb

What is the recommended way to remove 30 yr old gasket material from bottom of engine air intakes (spider)?

the flyin' scotsman

Deb.........there are many manufacturers of gasket scrapers although you should be wary that these tools can be very sharp and therefore scratch and/or even gouge soft metal materials. There are also many spray on/ paint on gskt removers............apply liquid material to the gskt to be removed, wait a little time and scrape. Once most of the gskt material has been removed you can further dress the sufaces with steel wool and a final clean with acetone or brake cleaner to ensure a perfectly clean renewed surface.

Most of these materials are available through the typical car part stores.........Malcolm

G Man

When I was turning wrenches for a living, I used to use an air powered grinder with a scotch brite pad that attaches to a bit. These kits are available at most auto parts stores. The scotch brite pad cuts the gasket material but is not to hard on the aluminum. HOWEVER, it will remove aluminum if you don't pay attention. You might try gasket remover solovent that is also available at auto parts retailers.

Tony

Dremel makes little buffer/abrasive pads also that work realy well!

docmirror

Plug the intake tubes first, I use closed cell foam. Then, use a sharpened putty knife as a scraper. There are special tools called gasket scrapers that look like a screwdriver with an angled wide blade. Once the majority of the gunk is off, use laquer thinner and a green scrubber to clean up the face. It will scuff the surface if you go too hard. Sometimes for really hard stuff you can let the thinner or acetone sit on it for a while.

Takes time, but there's no easy way on old gaskets, sorry.

Garth S

For really tough stuff - where there is no risk of dripping into the engine, try commercial paint/varnish stripper. Available in small cans, the active ingredient to look for on the 'hazardous' label is methylene chloride. This volatile liquid is gelled up with other gunk to make it stick - and work. No alkaline, water based, etc. types - methylene chloride is the one ...

Earl Gillstrom

NEVER--NEVER use any abrasive on a motor to remove gaskets. You can not get all of the abrasive out without hot soapy water.

If you have the engine completely disassembled and can wash every part in HOT soapy water 3 times, and you are a gambler, then use abrasives. The big three will love you.

All major auto companys have banned abrasives for gasket removal.

The average life of an engine cleaned with abrasives is 200 miles.

Abrasives are Scotch Brite Pads, Rololoc (sp), Sandpaper, ETC.

WallyP

You might add glass beads, sand, etc., on disassembled engine parts.

I have a friend who had to replace an aircraft engine ($$$$!!)because glass beads packed into an dead-end oil passage, and survived high-pressure washer and high-pressure air blasts.

JP Rodkey

I guess I look at it a little differently, and just tackled this issue on my '79. Like you, my desire was to get all surfaces clean and shiny. Yet, on almost every intake port, there remained some residue of the original black gasket material. I scraped (all the way to razor blades) and used all the chemicals available to me (gasket removal juice, lacquer thinner, etc.) but none would remove the remaining gasket material. Mind you, 95% of the material had been removed and what remained were splotches of black that the razor blade could not even scrape off. I was getting ready to begin filing, but realized that if the material were that imbedded, that flat, and removing metal was going to happen, I decided that really nothing would be gained. So, per standard procedure for me, I used a thin coating of gasket sealer (NOT gasket maker) and bolted everything in place. There is virtually no chance for leaks and, of course, the offending material can't even be seen.

Ideally, it would still be best to have everything spotless, but as Wally mentioned, short of blasting or tanking the heads (mine were otherwise clean and fine mechanically and didn't warrant that level of work), it boils down to return on your effort.

atb

Have had excellent luck with permatex spray on gasket remover followed up with a gasket scraper (putty knife) in most applications. Don't know abouty your's in particular.

Deb

Thanks for all of the valuable input - as usual - looks like I'll go with some commercialy available solvent followed by a "softer than metal" lifter.