carb float bowl gasket

[achtungeveryone]

just fixed one carb for a leaky bowl plug and now the other one is leaking. I removed the bowl and this time the gasket came apart in 3 pieces with a small section lost. Can permatex, or something similar, be used for the bowl gasket or do I need to stick with the fiber gasket?

thanks for any help here

Achtung

 

[Keoke]

Hi Best to obtain a new fiber gasket and apply a bit of Hylomar sealant to it,--Keoke

 

[bgbassplyr]

A,
Get some similar gasket material from your local parts vendor and fab a new gasket. The way i usually do it is to lay an oversize piece of gasket material over the float bowl (or whatever), hold it firmly so that it doesn't move and then tap against the gasket with a small hammer around the outside and inside of the bowl so that the bowl edge cuts through the gasket, or at least marks it to be cut with an Exacto or some such very sharp blade. Done carefully, this will produce a very acceptable gasket at a fraction of the cost and wait time for a comercially produced gasket.

Jim

 

[TR3driver]

While I've not tried it myself, I think there is a very good chance you could get by with just smearing the lip with Hylomar and assembling without a gasket. That gasket is not submerged in fuel, the fuel just splashes up there, so it's not likely to leak much, if at all.

But I'd order another gasket, JIC.

 

[achtungeveryone]

randall, if I smear the lip with Hylomar do I need to wait for it to set-up or just bolt it back on? That back screw on the bowl is a real pain to get to so I am not wanting to do it again.
thanks keoke and jim also for the help...

 

[DrEntropy]

Hylomar doesn't "cure". And it's absolutely impervious to gasoline. Slap it together and press on! :thumbsup:

 

[dklawson]

I cut my own gasket from sheet as mentioned above by Jim. I'm not a big fan of gasket sealant (of any kind) on float bowls.

Flashback: As a teenager who didn't know better I applied RTV to a Solex carb gasket and put the bowl cover on. Silicone and gas don't get along at all. The next day while driving my car a small sliver of RTV broke off on the INSIDE of the float bowl and got sucked into a carb jet. Immediately the car died. I know now RTV was the WRONG thing to use but since then I haven't used sealant on any carb gaskets. A gasket without sealant can be re-used several times.

 

[TR3driver]

Hylomar doesn't "cure". And it's absolutely impervious to gasoline. Slap it together and press on! :thumbsup:

Doug, that's exactly why I don't recommend RTV any place it might get "inside". Hylomar does not do that. If you use a little too much (which IMO is better than too little), it just squeezes out and stays there. Since it remains soft, it cannot break into strings like RTV frequently does.

And just to be clear, I feel Hylomar with no gasket is a "make do" approach. It would be better to get a proper gasket (I've never had much luck cutting fragile, complicated gaskets like a ZS float bowl), which is only a few bucks @ TRF. But the Hylomar will get you back on the road today, and likely last until the next time you drop the bowls for some reason. Using it on the new gasket also increases the chances it can be reused, IMO.