stubborn exhaust manifold gaskets Options

[87m491]

Deforming of single cylinder gasket on bench I could likely handle.

Long thin blade slotted screwdriver, a good rap with a SMH

Deformed copper gasket

Done like dinner

[930cabman]

Deforming of single cylinder gasket on bench I could likely handle.

Long thin blade slotted screwdriver, a good rap with a SMH

Deformed copper gasket

Done like dinner

I'll bet it can be done on your back under the car. Just make sure you have eye protection

[73-914]

1/4 in Cold chisel will cut it easy

[87m491]

1/4 in Cold chisel will cut it easy

As with so many things on the internet YMMV (Widely) Previously posted, in situ, is exactly what a fairly new cold chisel and 2.5lb small sledge, and heat, got me.
Appreciate the tips but until I pull the engine, it likely stays put.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i.imgur.com-14731-1708892176.1.jpg)

[technicalninja]

I did mine in our 75 upside down.

They were stuck like a bitch too.

I used the cheapy harbor freight pick to clear around the perimeter of the copper ring and the parting line at the head exit FIRST.

Got all the carbon cleaned off and hit it with PB blaster. Let it sit over night.

Still stuck pretty well and I just worked the pick under the oval until they finally popped free.

You're still super dirty around the ring...

[rhodyguy]

The cold steel chisel is too blunt. Consider the indentations in the copper.

[87m491]

I did mine in our 75 upside down.

They were stuck like a bitch too.

I used the cheapy harbor freight pick to clear around the perimeter of the copper ring and the parting line at the head exit FIRST.

Got all the carbon cleaned off and hit it with PB blaster. Let it sit over night.

Still stuck pretty well and I just worked the pick under the oval until they finally popped free.

You're still super dirty around the ring...

Because I like closure on threads, and public ridicule, here's the rest of of the story. Given the precise fit, decades old, and hundreds of heat cycled nature of the gasket's history, there was NO WAY any pick was getting in between the gasket and the cylinder head period. I turned a nice flat bladed screw drivers tip 90 degrees and ground a nice sharp edge on it and it got me no where trying to lever around the gasket. Not heat, not penetrant nor cold chisel budged it at all.

I then went with a previously broken wood chisel (~3/16s wide) and put a nice point on it.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i.imgur.com-14731-1709558684.1.jpg)

While the chisel dug through the gasket, one mis strike also left a nice gouge on an engine fin and still didn't immediately provide an opening to lever out the gasket!
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i.imgur.com-14731-1709558685.2.jpg)

One might think such a deep cleave in the gasket would easily accept another screw driver blade surfaces to work against but that fit was tight!

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i.imgur.com-14731-1709558685.3.jpg)

Success was finally achieved but the remaining 3 will await an engine drop and then oil return tube removal so as to proved a few more degrees of leverage which hopefully will make it less of a PITA next winter.
Interestingly I "sound checked" the gasket on removal. While a new one tinkled nicely as the hit the floor. The replacement which I annealed before installing made virtually no sound when dropped on concrete and the removed unit was definitely somewhere in the middle, i.e., maybe is was not annealed and that added to its stubborn removal?


Thanks for the suggestions.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i.imgur.com-14731-1709558685.4.jpg)

[GregAmy]

Good on you for keeping at it!

[930cabman]

Glad you got it out, but I would be careful of causing damage to the aluminum sealing surface of the head. In the past I have had luck with collapsing the copper and pulling it out with a needle nose. Sorry for the poor pics