Who's gasket ya talking about?

 

cantons gasket. It was only 25 bucks, and my price as a GM employee was 36 on a GM one. I decided on the canton one.

 

Has it got the sleeves in the bolt holes? They are there to keep ya from tightening down to far. The thing is like that the ends don't pull down far enough to seal without a BUNCH of GOOP on the ends. Factory gasket does the same thing. Soooo give it a try,I haven't been sucessful running the silicone gasket and Canton will tell ya they never had a problem.

 

LOL @ canton saying there isn't a problem! Isn't that the truth? Well, I guess I will goop her up and see what happens, cuz it does have the spacers in the bolt holes, just like GMs gasket. Thanks for the help again 1racerdude!

 

I just covered the front and rear lips with red rtv. (both sides of the gasket) no leaks. Pulled the pan when putting a new cam in, did the same thing while it was in the car and no leaks this time either.

 

Good! That is definately good news. I already pulled the trigger and bought one, so I just figured on goopin the crap out of it. I had to do that with the GM gasket too, no biggy!
Thanks
Cody

 

The thing is I don't like to GLUE an engine together.

 

Some recommend this gasket, some that one. What they are doing is cover up a different problem. Instead of blindly installing the pan with this or that gasket, take the time to rest the pan on a known flat surface and check out the mounting surface. Get that right, then place the pan on the block without gaskets, and check it over around the entire perimeter. Now you can see what you are up against. When these steps are ignored or skipped over, then more finesse is helpful to get it to seal. The better the pan to block and cap fit, the less 'special' instructions are required. Canton is known for having a less than desireable mounting/contact surface.

 

How do you install the intake manifold then? unfortunately, there are problems with different metals being bolted together and such, so a little bit of adhesive can get rid of a lot of headaches!

But I agree, for most things you should not need to use sealant. But, where the oil pan meets up with the timing cover and the block always leaks, unless you dab her with some sealant! (But, I have never tried the cork gasket... that is interesting. I didn't even know they existed!)

 

Do you "massage" the oil pan with a hammer, or what?

 

That is one way, sure. I don't mind using the hammer at times, but for those times, I hammer against on object that is in contact with the pan, not hammer directly on the surface you want to 'massage'. The plan would be to improve the seal surface by putting it on the same plane. IOW, making it true against a flat surface, without destroying the surface itself with dimples, bumps, or anything to disrupt the original surface. Then set it on the engine without any gasket to check the seal surface relationship from the pan rail to the end surfaces. IOW, you may be dead flat on the pan rails, but have a uniform 1/8" gap on the ends. That would be tough to correct, if not impractical. What would be practical, would be to strive for a uniform or similar gap over the entire end surface. The point being, once you are aware of that surface mismatch, you wouldn't install it with a std. gasket, as leaks would be expected. The choice of correction measures would be up to you, be it different thicknesses of gaskets, or supplementing with RTV. At least you would know what areas to concentrate on when using the RTV. I for one, do not want any surprises after I bolt on that pan and run the engine.

BTW, I like the word, 'massage' to describe that delicate hammer procedure.

 

Yeah, I like that too. I had to "message" my inner fender wells on the rear to get my wide @ss tires to fit. So, I am fully aware of the need to improve on someone elses designs, be it GM, or Canton. Thanks for the heads up, we will see how it goes when she arrives!
Thanks again!
Also, I suppose everyone has their own technique they like to use, weather it be putting a motor together, or buttering your bread. Im cool with that, stick with what you know! Thanks to all, and thanks for sharing with me what works for you!