TOPIC:

I take issue strongly with stating Permatex #2 is non-hardening...... That HAS NEVER been my experience with it, The longer something is bolted together the harder it gets..... That's what everyone is scraping off their gasket surfaces nowadays. That's because in the mid-80 it was promoted as the best thing since sliced bread Took about 2 times using it and it has been banned from my garage every since.

The incorrect application of RTV sealants should in no way measure in their effectiveness as sealants There is way to much of the mentality "if a little is good,a lot must be better" floating around This is not the sealants fault, it's what we call an I/O Error

ezrider714 wrote: I take issue strongly with stating Permatex #2 is non-hardening...... That HAS NEVER been my experience with it:

AMEN. Miserable to scrape off.

Well Ive kept my big mouth shut long enough,We all no my favorite gasket sealer(which ever brand name you choose to go with)

My gaskets go on dry. They never leak.
Art

A thin coating of bearing grease will help the gasket come off in one piece and not stick to either side. The paper gaskets also absorb oil as they are broken in, and the grease makes this break in and seating issue happen immediately. The grease also helps it stay in place while re-seating the block, etc.

I either read this somewhere, or someone replied to my bitching about cleaning the base gasket off, which took around 81,274.37 hours to complete...

The local repair shop owner uses Yamabond, but he does so because he "will not be getting back in there to do any further work." I will be checking/adjusting the valve clearance after 500ish miles to confirm proper function, so the valve cover gasket will definitely be greased. He said to just put enough on to coat the gasket if I chose to grease them up.

The head gasket is also paper with metal rings, so a little coating should be good. The base gasket seems to be made of a synthetic material, and so I figured it should be good except for the two points mentioned in the FSM to place sealant. The oil pan gasket is paper, so it will get greased. It seems like this is like putting it on dry, since the oil would be soaking in to them anyway.

Thoughts?

Water proof grease works great. When I had my top end and pan apart I did a combination of methods so the next time I'm in there I can judge what is best.Cylinder block gasket I used film of grease. Head gasket went on dry. Oil pan gasket was sprayed with copper spray. So was the stator cover gasket (later repair). The old valve cover gasket had come off whole but originally had small leaks. I had a new valve cover gasket but decided to try the old one sprayed with copper spray. All methods worked with no leaks and have been like that for a couple of years. Even the old leaky reused valve cover gasket has been fine after having sprayed it with copper spray. So once I have to go in again to take the top end apart, I should have a pretty good idea of which method requires the least amount of gasket clenaing. Albeit, the jugs and the head gaskets are usually the ones that give the most trouble.