Topic: Gasket wont come off!

[CETME]

The base gasket on my 550 is basically welded to my my block and cylinders.....   I've sprayed lots of permatex gasket remover on it, to no avail.   What can I do to remove this gasket material?

I was thinking of honing the cylinders.... would a hone from Advance Auto Parts or the like do just fine? the three pronged stone one? then just get new piston rings?

any help would be great

[Sam Green Racing]

Remove old gasket very carefully with a stanly knife blade.

If your bores are worn you will need pistons and rings.

Ask the person doing the bores to measure the ware so that you can buy the correct size pistons.

Good luck, Sam.

[CETME]

i've been using a VERY sharp craftsman gasket scraper... and it's not doing it!

[cb650]

For stubborn gaskets I use a die grinder with a little pad of some stuff like a brillo pad.
The box says 2'' surface conditioner.  You have to be very carfull as they will take off metal.
We get then at a welding supply.
If your bores are not to worn of scored honing with new rings is fine.




              Terry

[KB02]

For the hard to reach places, a rotary tool might be usefull in getting the old material out.

I wonder how it got baked in there to begin with?

[Gordon]

I used a Dremel with the small wire wheel attachment.  Actually, several small wire wheel attachments, but it works.  You just have to go easy on it and take it slow.  I tried everything else I could think of before I went that route. 

[bryanj]

When this happened (frequently) in the dealers we used to leave the part in the parts cleaning bath with the fluid running over it and use just the blade from the craftsman type knife very carefully, for the really stubourn ones i had an air powered scraper from "Snap on" but thats a bit pricey if you aint using it a lot! As to the honing you dont need to go to the expense of a hone over here we have "glaze busters" which are like what is known as a Flap wheel(lots of pieces of abrasive emery cloth) with a long spindle and this will remove any rust and glaze. The expensive and not easy to get part is the rings, it may be cheaper to get a 555cc kit for a 500 from ebay as that is 2nd oversize 550 (0.5mm) and bore to suit