1917 Overland-Custom Rubber Stripping

Posted January 31, 2010 by gasketstogo
Categories: Automobiles
Tags: , , ,

As you might imagine, there are probably not too many 1917 Overlands around. Here is an image of a snappy 1917 Overland I found on an auction site:

Because they are so rare  it is probably impossible to find rubber trims parts for them unless they are generic, so this customer supplied me with two factory drawings for some rubber stripping when asking for a quotation:

Happy with the pricing, the customer placed an order for both, and we used the drawing to extrude 75 foot (25 meter) strips from EPDM rubber, which is ideal for rubber with outdoor exposure. I will post cross sections of the final product below:

The time-frame for extruded parts is much quicker than molded parts, usually 10 days vs. 4-5 weeks. The reason is because the tooling required is a lot simpler. Costs per linear foot are very competitive with costs for off the shelf rubber stripping, and even with air or surface shipping costs added in often are less than 1/2 the cost of any strip that might be in stock somewhere. If you want a quotation for any extruded rubber part just send a drawing or image of a cross section of what you need and I will be happy to let you know what it would cost. If any reader has a 1917 Overland and needs these strips let me know and I will put you in touch with my customer.

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Lauson RAY Small Engine Head Gasket

Posted January 31, 2010 by gasketstogo
Categories: Small Engine Gaskets
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This gasket is from a regular customer who collects and restores old Lauson engines. He always order the same Armstrong metal clad material, and does not require a steel flame ring.  Although not the preferred method, he sent a tracing by snail mail:

We used that tracing to cut 3 of these from a 1.2mm thick Armstrong metal clad material, which we more often use for exhaust gaskets. We have an even better version of this in 1.8mm as well and I will be posting some images of some exhaust gaskets made from that. Here is one of the finished Lauson gaskets:

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Cummins Diesel Steel Sandwich Head Gasket

Posted January 31, 2010 by gasketstogo
Categories: Trucks
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This project was a bit different than some of the steel sandwich gaskets we have made in the past. The customer informed me that inside the gasket there was a separate steel sheet in the cylinder area. If you look at the picture of the used gasket I will insert below, the extra steel sheet is under the part of the gasket that is lighter than the rest of the gasket.

Initially the customer sent this image, which we used to develop a quotation. He liked that, so he sent the old gasket to use for use in making 4 new gaskets, which you can see below. These have the extra steel sheet inside, and the copper inserts just like the OEM gasket.

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Curved Dash Oldsmobile

Posted December 23, 2009 by gasketstogo
Categories: Automobiles
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It is hard to believe but the Oldsmobile is no longer with us. My first car was a rusty $100 1960 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88. Didn’t last too much longer after I bought it, but I went on to have good experiences with a second hand 1979 Olds Cutlass and a 1984 88.

I mention Olds because we recently had the honor of making a batch of copper head and valve cover gaskets for the very first car mass-produced in any quantity, the Curved Dash Olds, produced from 1901 to 1907.

There were only about 20,000 of these made, but something like 1,000 are still around, and the CDO Club sent a drawing of the valve cover gasket and a scan with dimensions for the head gasket in order to order enough of these gaskets to keep these machines running.

Here are the finished gaskets:

CDO Valve Cover Gaskets

CDO Head Gasket

If you need gaskets for your Curved Dash Olds, please contact Gary Hoonsbeen at the CDO Club.

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Springs

Posted December 21, 2009 by gasketstogo
Categories: Springs
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Obviously our main specialty is custom gaskets, but along with molded and extruded rubber items we can also help with springs. There are no tooling or set-up charges for most springs, and usually no minimum order size. That means if you need one spring you can order one spring. Prices decrease dramatically with quantity, so if you only need one spring the cost per piece will be more than if you ordered, say, 20, but if you only need one spring you might have to do that.

We can help with just about any spring, from tiny hair springs to automotive springs, and things that don’t even look like regular springs. Heavier springs might be better sourced closer to home since shipping costs will probably eat any savings, but for most smaller springs our prices are usually very competitive.

I will post an image of some stainless steel springs we recently made for a customer, for some kind of pump. The customer provided the following specs and a drawing of one of the 10 spring he wanted.


Outside Dia  1.125″
Wire Dia.  .0625″
Coils    6
Closed Ends
Material   Stainless steel or Phosphor bronze

Here are the finished springs:

…and here is what he had to say after receiving them:

“Thanks! They look great!”

Here are some valve springs for a small engine that we made several weeks ago. The original is on the left, the copy on the right. Note: They are the same height, they only appear to be of different heights because of a lens effect. This customer ordered 100 springs.

If you need springs or small metal fasteners of any kind please visit www.gasketstogo.com to learn more. You can click the Contact Us tab at the top of the Home page to write us with questions.

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Leyland Truck Copper Sandwich Head Gasket

Posted December 21, 2009 by gasketstogo
Categories: Trucks
Tags: , , ,

Leyland was a British manufacturer of trucks (lorries) and buses that is sadly no more.

A regular customer in the UK specializes in supplying gaskets for industrial marques that have long gone by the wayside, with spares difficult if not impossible to find. After sending an image of an old Leyland gasket along with dimensions and thickness for a quotation he was happy with the quoted price and sent a copy of a used gasket to use as a pattern.

This type of gasket is known as a copper sandwich gasket, also referred to as a copandas gasket in the UK, and consists of an inner material sandwiched by sheets of copper.  Originally these contained asbestos inner material, but asbestos is now banned in Europe, Australia, NZ, and most other countries, with the exception of the USA and a few others. Instead of asbestos we have been using a non-asbestos material very similar in appearance to the original white asbestos. This material is supplied by Interface Solutions (USA) and known as HT5050. Alternatively, and expecially for thicker gaskets, we use a metal mesh reinforced composite head gasket material from Interface Solutions. In this case the customer opted for the latter option.

This gasket was sealed around the outside, which means the copper is crimped over to seal the inner material. I am not sure if that really makes any difference, but some of the older gaskets came that way  and in order to make these as authentic as possible the customer wanted that. All the holes except for the bolt holes were bushed as well, so this was a fairly labor-intensive gasket to make. The results are below, with the old pattern gasket on top and one of the 3 replacement gaskets we made below:

If you recognize that Leyland gasket and need one let me know and I will put you in touch with my customer.

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Air Compressor Gaskets

Posted December 20, 2009 by gasketstogo
Categories: Air Compressor
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I always like it when customers send me images of the machines our gaskets will be used with. This customer sent me a nice ad for a 1920s air compressor. Turns out the company is still in business all these years later.

The customer needed a set of gaskets, and specified a material  .003 in. thick. Our sizes here are metric, so I recommended a 0.8mm material from Interface Solutions known as NI2085 as we had previously had good results with customers requiring similar compressor gaskets. The customer sent drawing files which we were able to work from.

Here are the finished gaskets. Because this was a one-off order these were hand cut, but you would be hard put to tell that. Here is what the customer had to say, followed by an image of the gasket set:

“The gaskets arrived yesterday morning. They were well packed and arrived without damage. I was concerned they would not be very accurate because they were hand cut, but when I compared them with the templates they were perfect, and by perfect I mean not even a fraction of a mm off.”

I should note here that we usually  hand cut in cases of one-off gaskets like these, but for orders over 30 items or so we use steel rule dies.


If you need a set of gaskets for a Quincy Silent Air-Master we have the patterns here, so let us know.

UPDATE: The customer sent me an image of the restored compressor:

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Stainless Steel Exhaust Gaskets

Posted December 19, 2009 by gasketstogo
Categories: Trucks
Tags: , , ,

I have a regular customer who is in the business of restoring obscure Japanese small trucks from the 1960s. Really small. To give you an idea of just how small they are, I have helpfully inserted an image of Gary Coleman next to a Cony truck (1 Coleman unit = 4 feet 8 inches):

The customer sent me a galvanized steel exhaust gasket, pictured in a scanned image below. Construction type is a steel sandwich, with an asbestos core.

According to my customer the problem with this gasket is that they rust out rather quickly, so I recommended going with stainless steel, and he agreed. Here is one of the 100 replacement gaskets we made:

If you are a Cony owner in need of gaskets or parts please visit the customer’s web site: http://www.littlecartrader.com/

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Molded Rubber Items

Posted December 19, 2009 by gasketstogo
Categories: Molded Rubber Parts
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While gaskets are our primary focus, Gaskets-to-Go can also assist customers with their molded and extruded rubber needs. Because of the tooling required for molded rubber parts we do have a mininum order size for molded rubber items, which can be between 300 and 500 pieces. All charges are included in any per piece price, there are no extra charges.

Most of the items we have had molded for automotive use have been made of NBR, also known as BUNA N or Nitrile rubber. This is because of its oil resistant properties and overall durability. We can also mold parts out of natural rubber (NR), EPDM, Neoprene, and more. The type of rubber required depends on the appication, and of course customers can specify whatever they want. We can also help with extruded parts, such as weatherstripping and windshield stripping for cars. I will deal with that in a separate post.

We can usually quote against an image of a part with relevant dimensions, although if a part is somewhat complicated, a drawing or the actual part may be required for a quotation. For production we will need a drawing or an actual part for use as a pattern.

The entire process usually takes from 5-6 weeks from start to finish. Tooling takes about 4-5 weeks to complete. Once complete, a test batch is run and checked to see that it conforms with requirements. If not, corrections are made. If the test items are OK, full production is usually complete within 7-10 days.

I will relate the history of one molded rubber part here, and others from time to time. This story concerns a rubber wheel that we had manufactured on our own behalf for use in a kit to repair the Magna-lite turn signal assemblies that Land Rover Series II and IIA vehicles came equipped with. Those are the old Land Rovers many of us remember from travelogues and adventure shows from the 50s into the 70s. Full disclosure: I own a Series III Land Rover.

The signal assembly contains a rubber wheel that is turned by the steering shaft, and these wear and deteriorate with time. The original manufacturer is no longer around, and spares became impossible to find (unobtainium), so we decided to make a kit to address that situation. I was able to miraculously obtain an NOS (new old stock) assembly so that we had a good pattern. The wheel was made of NBR. Here is an image of the wheel and the parts that make up the kit.

By the way, if you are a Land Rover Series II or IIA owner in need of a repair kit they are currently available from Gaskets-to-Go on e-Bay under item #150392514095. You can also order directly from Gaskets-to-Go.

Here here an assortment of other molded rubber parts we have made for customers:

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In stock gaskets

Posted December 18, 2009 by gasketstogo
Categories: Small Engine Gaskets
Tags: , ,

Although Gaskets-t0-Go is primarily a custom gaskets manufacturer, we do carry a few gaskets in stock, primarily for small engines, such as Lister diesel engines, Honda GX small engines, and Changfa diesel engines. We sell those on separate web sites:

www.listergaskets.com
www.hondagxgaskets.com
www.changfagaskets.com

You can also find links to those sites on the blogroll on the right (you may have to scroll up to see it).

You can order directly from those sites and pay by credit card or PayPal.

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