Since many members here have ripped their engines apart once or twice, I figure you know the best methods for removing the baked on gaskets without causing any undue harm to the engine. My buddy was going to use a "yellow gasket removing disc" on a die grinder to remove them. He says they work great at removing the gasket material but not harming the aluminum.

However, that's not what I have read online. I found that although they do remove the gasket material and "appear" to not harm the aluminum, they infact will damage the aluminum, albeit at a finer level, but still enough to create issues with sealing.

The general consensus online seems to be that learned with the "Tortoise and the Hare"... slow and steady wins the race. In this case, that translates as "chemical gasket remover spray, a scraper and elbow grease".

My question is, which brand of spray works best and what kind of scraper should I use? I don't want to gouge the aluminum so I was thinking something plastic would work best. Thoughts??

Mark

I've never used "chemical gasket remover spray"; only used a "scraper and elbow grease".

Doc

DocShadow wrote:
I've never used "chemical gasket remover spray"; only used a "scraper and elbow grease".

Doc

Boy Doc , you don't know what you're missing. That being said , I'm very particular about my Bikes , and would probably use elbow grease and flat razor blades on my Roadie, and lay off the chemicals. But , in auto applications , I have used the sprays, and man what time and headache it saves. 2 cents anywho. BB

Send it all to Doc with beer and he'll take care of it.

What can I say ..... I'm a sucker for punishment.

Doc

I've used the scraper and elbow grease to a point, then just switched over to rubbing the remainder off with gasoline and elbow grease. I'm too cheap for special cleaners.

Thanks to all that chimed in. I ended up using a spray for some of the removal and just elbowed out the rest. The spray definitely did help a LOT, but it's not friendly to the paint. Fortunately for me, my engine was already missing paint here and there, so it makes no difference

Now the reassembly can finally continue this week. I'm hoping to have the motor back in the frame on Thursday.

I have used a Die Grinder with a Small Wire Wheel to clean off old Gasket Material before, it works good and does not score the metal surface up, it should be good for what you want to do, you will need an Air Hose and when you are done just use a Blow Down Tool with the Air to clean off everything! My .02 Cents Worth!