Can I re-use intake gasket?

[turbowannabe]

Puting my motor back together and a buddy of mine dropped a bolt into one of the intake ports. I ended up having to pull the intake back off of the car to get it out. I was wondering if it would be safe to re-use or should I just buck up and buy a new one. Let me know

-Dan

 

[TURBOELKY]

me

I would buy a new one, unless you did not use sealant and torque it all the way down. Which i'm sure you did so go pay the 20 bucks for the new valley pan

 

[chrisgarrett]

I posted this question on the other board some time back, and the overwhelming response was: once the gasket has been crushed, it shouldn't be re-used. You don't want to do it twice.

 

[turbowannabe]

Will do. I used the supplied felpro rtv around the coolant passages. How do you seal it up?

 

[TURBOELKY]

true

about the crush thing. I use gaskacinch on the gasket its self, and just a dab on the corners of rtv to seal the block to head to manifold area. Have fun.

 

[Louie L.]

After a similar situation I reused a stock unfired Felpro. Been running fine for 3 years. I have seen others do it with sucess. Im not trying to start a argument, just givin you my experience.

 

[Lee Thompson]

yes

Sure you can--do it often.

 

[VadersV6]

Yeah re-using head gaskets would be the next progression in this logic...

 

[JSAautomotive]

Since the valley pans are metal, they can be re-cleaned and re-used without a problem. We do it all the time and never have leaks. Although we don't use gaskacinch (old school) we prefer the newer sealants. We use Permatex Ultra grey on coolant ports and depending on the material, Permatex "Hi Tack" or a very thin coat of Ultra Grey on the intake ports so as to not get any in the ports. The manifold end seals are purely Ultra Grey. We've got motors that make in excess of 1000 hp that are daily street drivers that don't even haze oil from any of the area's where Ultra Grey was used.

 

[chrisgarrett]

Most TR people use the Felpro 96033 non-metal gasket. If you re-use a gasket and get away with it you were lucky. Once a gasket is crushed, it loses most of its ability to seal.
I agree with Vader, you wouldn't re-use an intake gasket for the same reason you wouldn't re-use a head gasket. Or do you re-use those too?

 

[Lee Thompson]

Common sense !!

Some things you can use over--some not.

 

[bison]

Most TR people use the Felpro 96033 non-metal gasket. If you re-use a gasket and get away with it you were lucky. Once a gasket is crushed, it loses most of its ability to seal.
I agree with Vader, you wouldn't re-use an intake gasket for the same reason you wouldn't re-use a head gasket. Or do you re-use those too?

Ive reused the same intake gasket 4 different times over a 5 year period. It never leaked. Btw it was a 96033 fel-pro. The reason i re-used it was because it was crushed to the right thickness for my application and i didnt want to play around trying to get good port to port alignment. If i thought it might leak i sure would not have used it. Ive seen people install new gaskets and have them leak. Ive also reused copper head gaskets with no problems.

 

[VadersV6]

I was somewhat of a guru of intake manifolds for the 99-01 mustang cobras. I was the first (that we all knew of on all the mustang message boards), to use my own car as a test bed and did tons of R&D, developing a new intake design, that ended up beating everyone out there...anyway, those intake gaskets, I was able to use over and over and over and over. Must have pulled my own intake 30 times, and never bought a new set. But those gaskets are a serious kick ass design. I havent seen an intake gasket for TR's that I would use again and again. The cobra ones were made of some sort of thick black laminate with a strong silicone bead around all the ports..on both sides. The all metal ones for the TR's are garbage. The all metal one that was on my engine hadnt been sealing worth a crap, and the gaps from the mismatched angles caused the engine to suck half the RTV in the ports. Old school engine blocks tend to have cylinder decks that are crooked up to .030" (which makes square decking a good idea with any blueprinting job), and this causes the bottom of the intake ports to seal differently than the tops. The Fel-pro's would probably allow you to get away with it a few times, but I wouldnt feel good about it.

 

[tom h]

Most TR people use the Felpro 96033 non-metal gasket...

What are the key differences between the Felpro and the Original GM# 12328760 ?

Can one be said to be "better" ? Or is it personal preference, like cork gaskets vs rubber gaskets?

 

[Race Jace]

In this instance i would say you would be ok to reuse it.... but only on a buick not a mustang.

 

[TURBOELKY]

hey

buy a new one, and stay away from that metal shim valley pan crap.