How To Make Your Own Gaskets In An Emergency
This Tech Tip, Perkins and Deutz Gaskets: How to make them in a Pinch follows the earlier Tech Tip #5; Perkins and Deutz Gasket Paper: What to Use in a Pinch. Frequently people find themselves without the necessary gasket when working on their Perkins or Deutz engine. Maybe they bought a turbo for their Deutz over the internet and it came, surprise, surprise, without the necessary gasket for the oil line connection. Or they are working on a mixing elbow for their Perkins 4.108 marine engine on a Saturday afternoon on Block Island. They need a gasket badly yet the Block Island Hardware Store closed an hour ago. This Tech Tip offers some handy advice on how to make a gasket for your older Perkins or Deutz diesel in a pinch.
Gasket Material:
You should always have a couple of pieces of real gasket paper and rubber fiber gasket material in your tool box. You never know when you are going to need them. If you are in a jam, as we mentioned in Tech Tip #5 as a field expedient you could use paper from a pizza or cereal box. Someone more recently suggested that the stiff cardboard that the laundry uses for dress shirts is also good material.
How to Make a Gasket:
Making a gasket is a back yard skill that is slowly going away and many more current engines require a more advanced gasket that you can’t make at home. To add to that, these days fewer of us are working on their equipment out back and and the older time automotive parts store with a couple of old guys at the front counter that could help is becoming a thing of the past. For those of you who this might still apply to, here are a few tricks from the Foley Engines archives:
- You should begin by tracing the gasket out around the outer perimeter. While you could cut the material to shape with a pair of scissors, we recommend that you use an X-ACTO knife for better results.
- Once the basic gasket is cut to the shape you need, you still have to cut the required holes, accurately and without leaks. This is especially important if you are working say on a Perkins 4.108 raw water elbow or a Deutz 1011 turbo oil line gasket. Rather than use a nail or a knife to make your holes we have a better idea. You should use a rotary leather punch. The leather punch has a rotary wheel which offers you a selection of four or five tips in different sizes. The tips are hollow and act as a blade to cut the gasket material. You can pick up one of these punches at any arts and crafts store and keep it in your tool box.
- As a final note, don’t forget that with certain gaskets you can use some grease on one side and silicone sealant on the other to allow you to re-use certain gaskets not exposed to excess internal pressure or holding back oil or other fluids.
So there you have it; a little refresher on how we used to make work. Pack spare gasket material, an X-ACTO knife, a leather rotary punch, and some grease and you are prepared to make your own gaskets if necessary while you wait for the right gasket to come in the mail. We have many popular gaskets and seals on our website, but also stock far more in our warehouse so if you don’t see what you need, give us a call at 866-821-2454 or shoot us an e-mail at info@foleyengines.com.
