Gasket Cleanup - When is it "good enough?"

[heckienawjoe]

Hey All -

I'm doing a top end job and I have been cleaning up the remnants of the old gaskets with some WD40 to soften them up and then a gentle scraping with a blade. I don't want any leaks when I put the engine back together, but I also don't want to scrape too much and end up ruining the mating surface.

So what makes the surface "clean enough" to take the new gasket with a tight seal? I've searched around but haven't been satisfied with any of the answers I've found.

Any pointers or tips for what you guys use to get rid of the gunk? How are my surfaces looking? They are smooth to the touch but the coloring from the old gasket is still present.

Posted via Mobile

 

[xjwmx]

Use paint stripper on the old gasket. When every trace is gone then it's good enough. But that's easily done using paint stripper.

 

[wherearewe]

When its clean enough to eat off...

 

[pamcopete]

If you use Permatex Gasket remover, you won't have to ask the question.

 

[5twins]

You seem to have gotten all the heavy stuff off. As mentioned, I use paint stripper for that too. Now, do a final wipe-down with lacquer thinner. That should remove the rest of what's showing in your pics. It will also leave a very clean surface for the new gaskets. As a final step, I give the surfaces another wipe-down with the lacquer thinner literally minutes before assembly and then make it a point not to touch them. You don't want anything on them, not even a fingerprint.

 

[heckienawjoe]

Thanks fellas. I'll stop by the hardware store and grab some paint stripper and lacquer thinner and get these looking real good.

I also ordered some ThreeBond gasket cement for the reassembly. Saw some threads on how people use it on their head gasket. Should I also use on the base gasket or leave that one alone? Want to make sure I get a good seal so I don't have to tear it apart again anytime soon.

 

[5twins]

The base gasket would depend on which one you're using. If it's the new style contained in the Athena sets, it's chemically treated with a heat activated sealer so you put nothing on it.

 

[heckienawjoe]

Cool, thanks! I see that now in the Mikes description.