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Lower airbox gasket

9K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  JJrod 
#1 ·
It seems like every time I pull the airbox this $10 gasket falls apart and it's never in stock at the dealer. This time I didn't notice until I was reassembling it after the valve lash adjustment and didn't want to wait another week to order one in.
I used a silicone iPad cover from Dollar Tree and made a $1 forever gasket for that bugger! The pic is just the leftovers, the finished product is already one the bike. I have a nice set of hole punches so the bolt holes turned out more precise than the scissor cuts around the rest of it.
 

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#3 ·
Is that supposed to be sarcasm?
I don't think there's any chance of that. This material is .105" thick and a lot sturdier than the paper one. I don't think the heat is going to affect it either, they make bakeware out of the same stuff. I'm sure it seals better and it isn't going anywhere.
If it was going to eat a gasket due to the vacuum it would have eaten a chunk of a stock one by now. I've replaced 4 of them and they all come off in pieces, but none of them had any missing.
 
#6 ·
I didn't think silicone was affected by gasoline once it's cured. Maybe I'll have to find something better to make with. Any suggestions aside from the paper stuff the stock one is made with?
 
#7 ·
How about the "Cork type" gasket material, that you can buy in sheets from most Auto Parts stores? I always made Dirt Bike gaskets out of it.
 
#8 ·
Cork isn't recommended for fuel either. It looks like nitrile rubber is the way to go. I should be able to find a sheet of that at the autoparts store for about $10. No cheaper than the stock gasket, but I won't have to wait for it and with any luck, it might still last longer.
Thanks for the heads-up rc4man!
 
#11 ·
I had to see for myself, so I soaked a piece of that silicone in fuel overnight and it swelled like a sponge. I doubt that it would get that level of exposure being at the top of the throttle body, but it's still a poor choice for gasket material near fuel when there are better alternatives available. I checked Oreiley's and found a roll of the same stuff the stock one is made out of for $6, Felpro rubber-fiber. In a pinch this would do fine if the dealer didn't have one in stock, which is usually the case.
At least I got my dollar's worth out of that silicone for my pressure bleeder. That thing worked like a champ! After 6 years of service my fluid looked like mud.
 
#13 ·
This is odd. I reuse that same gasket 5 maybe 6 times before I start tearing around the mounting holes. Maybe you are tightening them down to much crushing the gasket. I just snug them down and do not worry about torque requirements.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Don't think it's possible to over tighten them. The V-stack brass stand offs where the bolts go through only ad X amount of gasket compression and no more. Like you, I' ve reused mine 1/2 dozen times and still look the same. I only recently change to a new one, just because. The 7 year old one still sealed an looked fine. If the stock V-stacks are removed, replaced and lower box thickness altered, eliminating that controlled compression distance, then over torqueing the gasket is very likely and will trash them in short order.
Ron
 
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