campbesl

Can anyone tell me the magical trick to hold the three exhaust port-to-heat exchanger gaskets in place while mounting the heat exchanger?

My new gaskets have a very loose fit (I think they're designed to be crushed on installation) and simply fall down when placed in the groove around the exhaust port (darned gravity!).

There's no way I could sit the gaskets on the heat exchanger surface and put lift the heat exchanger into place without disturbing the gaskets. Other than using an adhesive or grease, I'm vexed. I think that an adhesive might prevent good sealing and grease would burn.

Ideas?

TIA!!!

Scott

WarpMan

Scott,
This is amazing. I was faced with this exact dilemma this afternoon following a SAI port cleaning. I wound up just setting the seals on the heat exchanger flanges and lifting the whole thing up onto the mount studs (I had one hand under the middle of the HE and the other at the cat attach flange for positioning). This gave me a relatively unobstructed view of the flanges to be sure they aligned with the studs. The key trick was having a socket and extension preloaded with a mount nut which I threaded on to the middle flange to hold the HE in place while I attached the remaining nuts.

kkim

Scott,

Hope you get some answers as I'll be putting mine back together in the next day or so, also.

Let us know what you end up doing.

Toga

I would do it with grease, and clean the "surplus" with brake cleaner after your exchanger is tighten to the correct torque.
My second tough would go to a paste you use with exhaust pipes.

My .02!

viperbob

Use White lithium grease and it will help to seal the exhaust rings.

ecobb993

Yep, you really only need a few dabs of grease on each ring to hold in place until you slide the exchangers in place.

campbesl

Gents,

Thanks for the feedback. Since I was fully dirty and in the process, after posting my thread and waiting a few minutes, impatience got the best of me. I thought about it and thought about it...

Grease. That's word! After cleaning the grooves, I put two dabs of grease 180 degrees apart on the gasket groove. Dabs were about the size of a pea. Popped the gaskets into the groove and viola'. They held. Grease IS the word!!!

By the way, the gaskets are different on their two sides. One side is more flat and wide. It wasn't until I was installing the second heat exchanger that I noticed the difference. I put the flat wide side down towards the heat exchanger giving a larger sealing surface. I figured that the narrow side would have additional help sealing with the groove geometry. Hope that was right. ViperBob?

By the way, ViperBob, there is a boat here in my area with ViperBob on the side in BIG script. I've meant to get a pic and post it. Since you're moving to FL, maybe this is the boat for you!!!

Have a great Labor Day and God Bless the unfortunate hurricane victims.

Scott

Ron

I used a couple of dabs of grease on each gasket and that worked fine for me. I was also told that you can hold the gaskets in place with one rubber band for each gasket. The rubber bands obviously melt the first time you start the engine.

kkim

Scott,

Thanks for asking this question. I used grease, too, and worked like a charm last night. Car is back together and running great.

mleds

How many hours are you alll estimating that this SAI cleaning takes from start to finish? I got that nice light while on the tracki in the middle of a session at the Tracquest DE.
Thanks in advance,
Michael

campbesl

Michael,

In my case, it's really hard to say. Over a seven week period I replaced plugs, plug wires, cleaned the ISV valve, did the SAI cleanout and changed about 1,000 diapers. Through the process I would add solvent (carb cleaner, techron, seafoam) to the system and let it soak for a day or two. This made it hard for me to estimate the total hours involve actually working.

Maybe Kelly can give a good estimate.

Scott

kkim

I had mine soaking and dripping for about a week to do the SAI clean out... but I had a plugged SAI port and had to work to get that cleared. In the end, I had free flowing ports but went through 1 can of seafoam, one can of techron, 2 cans of JB carb cleaner...

If all 6 ports are free flowing when you get in there, I would think you could get this completed in a day or 2, but that's a WAG, at best. I would highly suggest using stoppers to block off 5 ports at a time so you can get max flow/pressure to each individual port so you can determine amount of blockage.

Before you assume it was the SAI that triggered your light, I'd confirm by getting the codes read first.

mleds

Thanks Kelly and Scott,
I read the codes...... The light had gone on a while back with a few codes, including the SAI. At 75k miles I think they need cleaning either way.
Thanks,
Michael

Chris W. - '96 Targa

Solvent, huh? Wow, and I thought my kids' diapers were dirty!

Late to the party, I know, but congratulations on your baby, Scott.



-Chris

campbesl

Chris,

I'm learning that congrats on a baby are never too late. And yes, it takes some serious solvent to clean some diaper messes. Speaking of baby, your baby is my favorite color - arena red.

How is life in Melbourne today? Rainy? We had that grey sky, rain thing since last Friday. I'm glad the storm has finally moved north out of our area and given us some sunshine.

Stay dry!

Scott