Carburator Gasket

[Happy Ours]

Just had my carb rebuilt and painted looks great, the gasket to remount the carb looks very thin next to the gasket that was there, is there a reason that a thicker gasket was used or is there no difference, the carb was rebuilt with E friendly gaskets and the new gasket to mount it with is also E friendly, would like to hear what I should use so I only have to reinstall it once ,any input would be greatly appreciated Thanks Craig

[prowlersfish]

I normally try and use the same thickness gaskets when possible . if the old gasket is in good shape reuse it . Don't worry about the E-10 fuel , not really a issue with gaskets . Its more of a issue with seals O-rings and diagrams.

[Happy Ours]

Thanks for the response Prowler,The old gasket is no good, should i try and get a thick gasket, or was the thin style the original one, the reason i ask is for the age of the boat the carb must off been rebuilt at some time, is there a benefit from one gasket [thin] to a thick one, i was told the carb was rebuilt with E friendly parts, also the pump inside the carb was rebuilt with a leather band on the pump not neoprene, sorry if my description is not to good please feel free to correct me if i am wrong Thanks Craig

[larryeddington]

Thick gaskets can be a heat insulator but our engines, that is raw water cooled ones, only run at 140 deg. In either case I use whichever gasket K can find. That manifold to carby gasket can be hard to find in my experience. Most are reused.

[larryeddington]

You can use the old mechs trick of making your own. obtain a large enough piece of gasket material, than lay it over the carby studs on the manifold and "tap" with a hammer to make marks. Remove the marks and slide the material down to the manifold then use the ball end of a ball peen hammer and gradually tap on the edge of the ventura holes which will cut out or mark the material to remove. Voilà a custom made gasket just trim a little to be sure of fit. I have done this many times for many applications. Your local auto store should have various raw gasket materials to select from.

[Happy Ours]

Thanks for the response Larry, the guy that rebuilt my carb also gave me the gasket to remount it, it's just that the gasket looks a bit thinner than the one that was there, as for running temp the boat never runs over 130 degrees hopefully the thermostat is working fine but no steam out off exhaust no major oil consumption and can put my hand on the exhaust manifolds and no burns so i am confident it is working fine, lakes are a bit colder up here than in texas, I have not put the carb back on yet am waiting for it to warm up a bit, I am going to go to Napa and see if they can match up the gasket I have with a thicker gasket, seeing as it is a Rochester Carb on a Ford 351 w they may be able to get it or have it, if not I will buy gasket material as you mentioned and make one, I do have some gasket material left from the gasket I made for my sending unit last year it is about 1/8 " but not sure if I have enough left, I bought it from Napa they told me it is gas compatible and so far so good no leaks. Thanks Caig

[larryeddington]

IMO the thin one will work fine, our engines (raw water cooled) only run at 140 so should not be any problem of heat transfer.