Ohlsson & Rice: Gasket Material - Vegetable Fiber (Detroiter)?

[CNew 404]

I’m in the process of researching some gasket materials and wanted to get some opinions. I’m trying to find material suitable to use as the gasket inside the engine intake area. I’ve come across a material called Vegetable Fiber, also referred to as “Detroiter”, that looks like it might be the answer. It comes in thicknesses as thin as 0.006, 0.010 and 0.015”. I measured the existing gasket and came up with 0.006-0.007. The description indicates that the material is impregnated and can withstand gas, oil, etc. and is ideal for compressive sealing and flange applications.  For grins I also measured the paper gasket for the carburetor on this particular engine and came up with 0.008 which is a little thinner than other carb gaskets I’ve seen in these engines. Perhaps this vegetable fiber gasket material might be another good option for the carb diaphragm gaskets vs the 1/64” Karropak material that is more common.

 

What do you all think?

 

https://www.allstategasket.com/info_gasket_material_style-1165.asp

 

Clint

Edited April 4, 2019 by CNew
Typo and misspelling

[Wallfish 698]

For $2.20 you can't go wrong. Are you having Eric cut these?

[CNew 404]

I think I may order some, there is a minimum of course... For this gasket I might cut my own to try it out first and then if it works maybe have Eric cut some.

[CNew 404]

How hot do you think that area of the engine gets?  Most of the vegetable fiber material is good up to about 250F.  There are some variants that have some NBR added that go up to 350F but I’m not finding them in the thin 0.006 range.

[factory 487]

I assume you are referring to these gaskets;

5-5 Induction case gasket

5-6 Reed (feather) valve gasket

 

Here's some I made earlier, for a hedge trimmer engine (13B) & a Tiny Tiger engine (¾HP).

Note: these two engines have different thickness gaskets.

 

You can always buy some to try, put a sample of each type in some fuel mix for a week of two to see if it reacts, swells or disintegrates, if it doesn't it will probably be OK.

 

I bought a small pack of gasket paper sheets for a couple of £'s in the following sizes, 0.006" (0.15mm), 0.01" (0.25mm), 0.016" (0.4mm), 0.031" (0.8mm) and 0.063" (1.6mm), I will have a look in the shed later to find out the type.

Note: you will get different measurements for the gasket thickness due to tolerances, which are mentioned the link you provided.

 

Apparently Perry Como album covers make excellent head gaskets, see post #9 here.

https://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89564

 

David

 

P.S. I'm tempted to combine this with the other recent gasket thread, as they both cover the same topic.

[factory 487]

1 hour ago, factory said:

I bought a small pack of gasket paper sheets for a couple of £'s in the following sizes, 0.006" (0.15mm), 0.01" (0.25mm), 0.016"

(0.4mm), 0.031" (0.8mm) and 0.063" (1.6mm), I will have a look in the shed later to find out the type.

 

The gasket paper I have is KlingerStatite;

https://docs-emea.rs-online.com/webdocs/0563/0900766b80563191.pdf

Page 175 in the Klinger catalogue;

http://www.klinger.co.uk/assets/files/Klinger Catalogue 2014.pdf

 

It is rated to 120°C (248°F) & made from cellulose fibre (some websites say it is vegetable fibre ), anyway it sounds very similar to the stuff you have found.
 

David

[CNew 404]

Excellent, I think I’ll order some tonight and give it a try.

 

Clint

Yes, those are the gaskets I’m referring too. That’s funny about the album cover

[CNew 404]

The 0.006” vegetable fiber gasket material finally arrived. I’ve got a small piece soaking in fuel right now. I’ll let you all know if it looks likes it’s going to work.

[factory 487]

Hopefully it'll be OK.

 

David

[CNew 404]

Me too, because I have a ton of it now due to a minimum order buy requirement

[factory 487]

That selection pack I bought was 6 sheets, the size was approximately the same as standard printer paper, I'm surprised you weren't able to buy a small amount of the equivalent type you found.

 

David

[CNew 404]

I was a little surprised as well, I wasn’t having much success finding any suppliers that sold small pieces or sample packs.