Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Sealant or not on old NOS fiber gaskets? › Reply To: Sealant or not on old NOS fiber gaskets?
I don’t know if it is worth anything, but from what I have heard our small engines teacher (I don’t take his class but know him well through clubs) just uses some sort of plasticy sealant on most stuff apart from cylinder heads in place of a gasket(although I’d have to ask him what exactly it was because I forgot). I have always made gaskets for all my stuff out of stock, but using some sort of caulking-like material(but more durable) may not be a bad idea, especially for lower units where a sealant that would mold to the cracks and crevasses that may be present in older and more beat-up motors may get a tighter seal whilst being less expensive than NOS gaskets on eBay.
Just a thought, but you have gaskets anyway, and I would probably just slap them on the motor and see if they leak before using sealant. For the cylinder head, you could always consider making your own gaskets if that is something that you feel would be beneficial to your students to know how to do. A (more or less) Ok gasket is not all that hard to make with a scissor and maybe a hole punch for bolt holes.
I’m certainly jealous that your students are able to work on outboards. While I don’t find it beneficial to go through a small engines class for knowledge I already have for the most part, It is kind of sad that the only antique outboards they would be working on are the ones that I am able to give them(which will happen with the next free motors I get).
"Outboards seem to multiply exponentially..........I find that for every finished project, there are two more waiting to be completed."