Amazing gasket removal technique, with video.

[chuck hahn]

yeah.. i just skim them enough to sand the gasket and gunk off no harder than necesary.

 

[gggGary]

those bristley things look really neat, in the mean time I use stiff paint/putty scrapers, grind a beveled edge on them and ALWAYS round the corners of the blade. no sharp corners = no gouges.

 

[Bobber]

I use these all the time. Most Auto-part stores sell them. I get mine from Napa, but they are $8 a piece. I used to work on Subaru's and the entire engine is aluminum. I even used them to clean up head surfaces.

They come in three different grit:
White: Fine
Yellow: Medium
Green: Course

I normally stick with the white and yellow for the aluminum, but Ive never tried the green.

(Hellow, Im new here by the way, just bought a 1981 GS450T (Bobber project))

 

[chuck hahn]

welcome aboard.. you have joined a great bunch of guys.. I know your gonna become addicted as all of us have and the bike list in your signature will probably grow. 2 years ago all i had was my 98 honda shadow. Now there are 4 in the garage and i am looking for a 1000..LOL

 

[Bobber]

welcome aboard.. you have joined a great bunch of guys.. I know your gonna become addicted as all of us have and the bike list in your signature will probably grow. 2 years ago all i had was my 98 honda shadow. Now there are 4 in the garage and i am looking for a 1000..LOL

Oh Ive got a few, just havent filled them in yet. My main ride is a 1992 GSX Katana 600 that I put a Bandit 1200 motor in. I also have a Honda XR650L that I use as a dirt bike. The GS is my new cruising around town bike.

 

[Skyboy8950]

OMG OMG, I feel like a 12 year old girl! My gasket set, which has been back-ordered, has ARRIVED, and I am getting my abrasive disks today! OMG! I can start putting this puppy back together this weekend! OMG!

I apologize for my giddiness.

 

[gggGary]

So I went out to NAPA and spent $31 for a sanding disk and spindle. Some PO had used who knows what to glue the base gasket to the jugs. Tried my scrapers, not so much, bought the disk and tried it, ehh not impressed. TWO coats of the really nasty paint stripper, progress but still a lot of gasket stuck on there. Sharpened a narrow wood chisel and worked VERY carefully to get between the liners. and finished with 220 grit sandpaper on wood blocks. Which seems way more controlled and I was able to just sand gasket where the wheel grinds on everything. My two cents. Now for more clean up and wait for my gasket order to arrive.

 

[sschering]

Sky

Go for it

GF is right up the street

He never says where you can get the 3M pad, but it's bound to be available locally

I know around here Tacoma Screw carries the 3m Roloc disk pads.

They have a store in Portland you could check but it's only open mon-fri 7-5

 

[Skyboy8950]

I ordered a box of 10 of them for $8.xx that should be here today. Shipping was $9.xx, so the total was $18.xx. From Amazon. Check it out.

 

[Skyboy8950]

Here are some results:

Note: Don't worry, I cleaned up all the grime.

So, the cylinders took about 10 minutes on each side. But realize that it takes a while to take off the old gasket, but try to remove as much as possible before using the disks. I found that after sitting out in the open air for about 2-3 weeks, scraping the gaskets was easier. Weird. There were some tough spots, but it all came up. The head gasket surfaces are slightly pitted from the previous gasket, but otherwise smooth.

The aluminum gets swirls in it, but no gouging. I would say don't stay still in one spot for too long. Otherwise, works like a charm! I'm going to give this a strong recommendation to anyone who needs to clean up gasket surfaces.

Any other questions?

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Thanks for the update. It looks like it works pretty well. Maybe I can use my drill for something other than picking my nose.



Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff