hi i just got a pair of vary parted slp runners i got them from mike graycar and he was sayin he made his own gaskets, does anyone know how to do this? im having a hard time cutting gaskets to work with the ported parts!

 

I'm not a TPI guy but I have to make special gaskets for my carb so I can share some of my limited experience. You can buy gasket sheets at most parts stores, but I get the impression you have that covered. For triming the "outside" perimeter of the gasket I'd use scissors and I'd mark the perimeter by placing the runner flat against the gasket sheet and trace it. I use a dark colored gasket material so I have found that a WHITE colored pencil shows up real nice. For doing the inside part, which is probably the hardest, I'd take a regular peice of white paper and hold over one of the runner openings and then get a bright flashlight and shine it through the other opening. Hopefully it will shine enough light to trace the inside shape. Either that or using that same paper, use an x-acto knife to cut out the inside shape since it'll be real easy to do with regular paper. Then transfer that shape to the real gasket material, and cut it out of the gasket sheet using a sharp x-acto knife. And a time saving tip for bolt holes, you can buy "hole punches" at crafts places that have leather working stuff. Makes it real easy to punch nice holes.

Edit: Thinking about it, I would think you could just use regular runner gaskets, use some weathersrtip adhesive to hold the gasket to the runner, and then using an x-acto knife trim out from the inside part of the runner what you need and be done with it?

HTH

 

Three ways to do it.

1. Put machinist blue on the runners and then place them against the gasket and remove. This will give you the outline to cut them.

2. Put masking tape on the mating surface and then trim it with a knife so it is a perfect cutout, pull it off, put it on your gasket material and then cut it.

3. Not recommended, but in a pinch it works, put the gasket material against the mating surface and use a ball end of a ball peen hammer to tap on the edge so it cuts the gasket on the outlines, keep going until your gasket is cut or get the design then cut it out.

 

Thats what I do. Fastest way to do it . Although I would drill or poke a hole and make a slit or two with a blade, to the edge of the openeing of the runners and then pound the edge so you dont distort the rest of the gasket surface. Works perfect for me.

Or I also sometimes just put the gasket over the runners and poke a hole in the center of each runner, and then use a round file to file away the gasket to match the openings.

 

So I take it you guys used home made gaskets for the runners? Did they work out good? Did they leak at all? I'm looking at a set of gaskets and my Edelbrock Runners, and if I trim the gasket to fit there's barely anything left. There's room for more gasket on the face of the runners, but there's no gasket with these gaskets.


What do you guys think?

 

the stuff you use to make your gasket is the same stuff the companys use, so i wouldn't worry about leaking

 

Empty shells if you are into firearms are wonderful for punching holes in gaskets too :-)

I'm going to have to make some for my pototype TPI intake that I have acquired.

Another thing worth it, if it is somehting u have to do more than once, find a cleanstriahgt piece of 2*4 and drill holes equal to the runner mounting sirface boltholes and be able to "bolt" it on the board and cut the gaskets out, and/or even go so far as to drill holes runner sized thru the board. this length is only worth going thru if your going to need to make yourself a jig and do frequent teardowns

later
Jeremy

 

Well I did it earlier tonight, took quite a while... but they turned out perfect. I will post pictures tomorrow, if I remember to borrow the camera.

So now I have gaskets that are a perfect match to my Edelbrock Runners, and I will match my intake to them now... on the other end of the intake the ports are matched to Felpro 1205 gaskets. Sounds like I'm gonna be set!

Thanks for the input, I am thinking of making Plexi-glass cutouts of the gaskets, so in the future it will be a easier process to cutting the gaskets out.

After looking at the finished produce, I am confident that I will have no leaks with these, especially compaired to the other gaskets I had.

 

Okay here is the set I made... they looked great.
Set

Here is a comparison of the set I made (top), what would be left of a stock gasket if I trimmed it to fit the runners exactly (middle), and the stock gasket (bottom).

Comparison

If you notice, the gaskets on the right would have had barely anything at the top, and the gasket on the left would have a thin spot on the bottom left. Also I was concerned with how the stock style gasket had a indentation in the center, which would have made the gasket surface un-even (high on one side and low towards the inside of the port), because I would have been trimming right into the middle of the indentation in the gasket.. the ones I made are completely flat.