Water pump gasket.. fit dry or use Hilomar

[TVR Beaver]

It does not actualy say on this one but it is quite a thick gasket... do you fit it dry or with some stuff

[spend]

I just lubricate the surfaces with a very thin smear of vaseline, being old fashioned it's a hard habit to break where gaskets are concerned

You can use a couple of M8 studs to ease assembly of the pump & gasket BTW.

[T1pper]

Hi, A very light smear will not hurt and maybe give you a bit of confidence.

Dont put it on too thick and then have it splilling out the sides, as the excess may enter the coolant possibly causing blockages internally.

[TVR Beaver]

cheers guy's.. having fit the water pump without a gasket it's clear the faces are not as flat as they might be!! and I'm talking being able to get a 0.2mm fealer in... So a quick tap with my precission hammer has sorted this out ... the pumps must be made of monkey metal althogh putting a straight edge on the pump and timing chest shows nothing much?? (although obviously you can't get straight across the ctr of the pump due to the impelor)...
I'm sure they will clamp up fine without getting the Engineers Blue out ... but always a bit unsure of putting things on dry...

Dave.. do you do this on the timing chest one also... Or just leave this one totaly dry?...

[spend]

I must admit to habitually cleaning mating surfaces, and all but heads I vaseline. I suppose it's just the visualization of the gasket sliding into place rather than getting snagged becomes kind of anal, but I was taught to do it many years ago & it's just stuck. I tend to only use tiny amounts of gasket goo to fill in any gashes in the mating surfaces prior to final preparation.

[TVR Beaver]

[PeteGriff]

spend said:

I must admit to habitually cleaning mating surfaces, and all but heads I vaseline. I suppose it's just the visualization of the gasket sliding into place rather than getting snagged becomes kind of anal, but I was taught to do it many years ago & it's just stuck. I tend to only use tiny amounts of gasket goo to fill in any gashes in the mating surfaces prior to final preparation.

Excellent advice. I always thoroughly clean both mating surfaces before assembly of any items. Also, I have a piece of 10mm thick groung flat gauge plate which I affix some fine wet & dry and then use as a hone to clean and true surfaces. I tend to use a thin smear of grease to alow the gasket to 'grip' (not on exhaust manifolds though). As far as the water pump gasket is concerned using a quality Land Rover part is advisable also as they tend to be better quality and a little thicker. Rgds, Pete