Gasket

[Barnsey]

Hi Folks,

  As far as I can make out most people just use a gasket sealant when fitting the inner side cover of an engine.  Is there any advantage in using the paper gasket which I bought from Ebay?  Might I be well off to fit the paper gasket and the sealant together? Maybe sealant on just one side of the gasket?

I am thinking that I might end up having to open the engine up again sooner or later.

   Regards,

           Ian

[Spaceman]

I don't think I've ever used a paper gasket on a BSA engine - I find a good quality sealant works fine for me! The trouble with paper gaskets is that you are always tempted to take a belt and braces approach and use a bit of sealant at the same time which makes the paper gasket a bit pointless in many cases.

However, this all depends on the quality of the mating surfaces. If they are in very good condition, a sealant is fine but, if they are less than perfect and slightly damaged, the belt and braces approach might be better

[chaz]

always use gasket sealant, dont want customers to return with leaks.
one thing to consider with paper gaskets, a piece of A4 paper is 0.1mm or 0.004" thick. when you are rebuilding with .002 or .004 thou shims it does make a difference and adding a paper gasket may need further shimming

[Spaceman]

I've just looked at the parts catalogue again and the only large engine gasket shown is for the primary chaincase cover. As said, using one for the crankcases or for the inner timing cover would mess up the engine shimming which is why they are not used. I've got a number of old full gasket sets lying around and I'm pretty sure they didn't include one for the inner timing cover but I'll check later.