im having trouble taking off the intake manifold gasket. it didnt come off in one piece...whats the easist and safest way to remove the gasket?

thanks

 

i know what u mean. i just took a scraper and scraped the rest off.

 

a scraper, a razor, they also sell a special spray that liqufies it and you wipe with a rag.

 

all ideas work on a fairly new IM gasket. best bet is to get a ballpeine hammer and tap the IM gasket with the ball till it breaks free and becomes brittle. we do it all the time to manifolds at work

 

what if he peeled it off and little flakes are left? that a hammer cant get.

 

thanks for the replies.

yeah it pretty much peeled off...its stuck on there. i think i'll go try that liquifying stuff.

any more suggestions before i start?

TTT

 

spray some of that on the gasket liberally then take a small razor and scrape it off, it's a bitch i had to do it too.. also make sure not to leave any kind of gasket material in the manifold.. wear a mask if you need to with this stuf cause it's pretty bad

 

hammer works on any size piece, even smaller than a dime. Just hit the ball on it and it will come off. i do this every day. gasket remover tends not to work on worn IM gaskets

 

also you can use a die grinder with a abrasive pad be sure to stuff rags or something into the intake ports, the main thing with using a die grinder is the nice smooth clean finish that is left which is good for the new gasket to seat and seal a little better.

 

I just did one recently, I used a Gasket scraper and some big grit sand paper to get the tiny ****... worked good no leaks on the new one.

 

ok i got most of the gasket off, but there are some little pieces that are just stuck. what should i do? sand it down?

thanks. i'll have pics up with the new manifold on

 

If you use a sanding pad or whatever you are asking for a nightmare. The easiest method is to spray gasket remover and a use a razor blade (careful not to nick the surface). Never heard of the hammer idea but doesn't sound good either. I once bought a car from some hack mechanic. He had sanded the intake surface and the car surged like crazy because it had a mad vacuum leak. Took forever to figure it out. I had to take the manifold to a machine shop to get it resurfaced, problem solved.

 

razor blade....then go buy a hondata gasket.......works like a charm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ssmdc2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you use a sanding pad or whatever you are asking for a nightmare. The easiest method is to spray gasket remover and a use a razor blade (careful not to nick the surface). Never heard of the hammer idea but doesn't sound good either. I once bought a car from some hack mechanic. He had sanded the intake surface and the car surged like crazy because it had a mad vacuum leak. Took forever to figure it out. I had to take the manifold to a machine shop to get it resurfaced, problem solved.</TD></TR></TABLE>

well i work at a pretty reputable shop (www.abacusracing.com) and its not like we are slamming the hammer, all it does is stresses the hard gasket and makes it brittle. I do agree it does sound a little out there

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mrctr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">razor blade....then go buy a hondata gasket.......works like a charm</TD></TR></TABLE>

word How much does that gasket cost?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hamB18C5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

word How much does that gasket cost?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've seen it for $60-$80

 

I work at a shop too and have gone through tech school. I have been working on cars for 7 years. That's why your method sounds odd to me. If it works for you though then why not use it? Maybe next time I do a manifold I will try it out. Do you use the ball part of the ball peen hammer? Wouldn't that take a long time?

 

yeah, just use the ball part and tap it with a little force, not pounding though. takes me about 5 minutes at most to do a bad gasket.