Removing baked on gaskets.

Anyone know a DIY way to removing old gaskets? These things have been baked on the aluminum intake runners of the 22R for 25 years. I'm wearing out my fingers trying to peal them off with a razor blade. A wire wheel on a drill helps, but even then, it still leaves some scraping to do.

What's your technique?

Solvent and time...... Lots of time....a n d ....

.patience, did I mention time ? Solvent? Wait for it...

Solvent and 3M Roloc scotchbrites on a drill

http://www.tcpglobal.com/MMM-7486.html?gclid=CLe76fnax8UCFdOQHwodNVYAqg#.VVf6U_lViko

HUZZAH! JThw8, I totally forgot about those things. Thanks. Solvent and time would work, except I don't have time.

Be careful with the whizzy wheel on aluminum, easy to start taking metal off.

Appleseed wrote: HUZZAH! JThw8, I totally forgot about those things. Thanks. Solvent and time would work, except I don't have time.

Yeah, I love those little buggers, they make quick work of it.

http://www.amazon.com/Paint-Rust-Stripping-Cup-Wheel/dp/B008GS91TE

These stripping discs have worked well for me.

A brass wire brush by hand + occasional use of brake-clean if it's particlarly tough.

This is the spot to put in the warning about using scotchbrite rolocs on engine internals. Don't do it, unless you can clean everything absolutely. They will contribute quite a lot of aluminum oxide to the engine oil, and you can probably imagine how much crankshaft bearings like that.

And you can remove a lot of aluminum from the surface in a big rush. Cast iron, ok. Aluminum, approach with great caution.

I have had very good results spraying old gaskets with penetrating oil and scraping with scrap pieces of lexan. Doesn't do any damage to aluminum heads, intakes, etc, and works pretty well.

Streetwiseguy wrote: This is the spot to put in the warning about using scotchbrite rolocs on engine internals. Don't do it, unless you can clean everything absolutely. They will contribute quite a lot of aluminum oxide to the engine oil, and you can probably imagine how much crankshaft bearings like that.

I don't have to. I killed my first car's 429 by using Rolocs on the intake manifold surfaces. Flattened half the cam lobes and created a righteous bottom-end knock.

Didn't know that was what caused it until I used a Roloc on the timing cover surface on a customer's 3.8 Sable. Came back in 50 miles with a bad knock. THAT is when I was told to not use Rolocs on anything exposed to the oil system...

A lesson lived is a lesson learned.

The problem is not the aluminum, the problem is the abrasives from the "cookie" itself! There are supposedly-safe bristle discs available, but in my experience those are absolutely useless for their intended purpose.

Razor blades and a high quality carbide scraper like the one Goodson sells. (The Super Scraper is really, really good, it doesn't nick like razor blades or go dull and need resharpening like standard scrapers)

JThw8 wrote: Solvent and 3M Roloc scotchbrites on a drill http://www.tcpglobal.com/MMM-7486.html?gclid=CLe76fnax8UCFdOQHwodNVYAqg#.VVf6U_lViko

I have stopped doing this after being convinced that it can ruin matting surfaces on heads and blocks.

Have not tried this gizmo out but video looks promising>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lM7IgqMAiA

Those. Those are useless.

If the gasket comes off with those, it will come off faster with a razor blade.

No body has a gasket scraper ?

Old school, I know.

JThw8 wrote: Solvent and 3M Roloc scotchbrites on a drill http://www.tcpglobal.com/MMM-7486.html?gclid=CLe76fnax8UCFdOQHwodNVYAqg#.VVf6U_lViko

And then watch this, and you likely won't use them like that again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zSSw6qHZd8

Anyway, I managed to get the gaskets of with sore fingers and a razor blade or 2. 1:30 in the morning prevents you from buying potentially stupid things from the parts store.