Exhaust Manifold Gasket Material

[Obi Wan]

I have ordered the stock gasket for this on my Universal 5424 but it's back-ordered and the only thing keeping me from finishing my overhaul and getting back on the water. It's the gasket between the exhaust manifold and pipe flange. I don't remember exactly what was on there when I dismantled it but it seems to me it was just a paper-type gasket (there wasn't much left) and may not have been the proper one anyway). I ordered the stock because I thought it might be a special gasket due to the high heat there.
Is anyone familiar with this type of gasket and know (not speculate - I can do that) if it is a high-heat gasket or just a regular ol' gasket (which I can make myself).

[Diesel Bill]

Originally Posted by Obi Wan

I have ordered the stock gasket for this on my Universal 5424 but it's back-ordered and the only thing keeping me from finishing my overhaul and getting back on the water. It's the gasket between the exhaust manifold and pipe flange. I don't remember exactly what was on there when I dismantled it but it seems to me it was just a paper-type gasket (there wasn't much left) and may not have been the proper one anyway). I ordered the stock because I thought it might be a special gasket due to the high heat there.
Is anyone familiar with this type of gasket and know (not speculate - I can do that) if it is a high-heat gasket or just a regular ol' gasket (which I can make myself).

I just replaced manifolds on my Perkins 236 engines. The gasket between the manifold and riser was a thick asbestos and graphite type. Might be able to find a piece at a automotive shop and cut out the shape you need. Can use the ball end of a ball peen hammer to tap out the edges on the manifold.

[sailah]

McMaster Carr sells all types of gaskets (in addition to every other piece of hardware, glue, hose clamps, loctite, stainless bolts in any flavor etc a sailor could want all with next day UPS ground shipping.)

I recently had the same thing where I needed to replace the exhaust manifold gasket to the injected elbow. Many things I bought from Mcmaster (I have a commercial account with them) instead of Westerbeke but in the case of the gasket it was saving a couple bucks and not exactly the right fit. I could have modified it but wasn't worth the trouble.

Just get some dimensions and a decent heat rating and shop around.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-gaskets/=176ytxg

Once you use McMaster Carr every other shopping experience for stuff sailors need is subpar. Their website is superlative for finding exactly what you need.

[barnakiel]

Ours is asbestos.

b.

[bletso]

I made mine from material bought at the local NAPA. It was the same type material as I removed. Fiber/metal/fiber sandwich.

[Obi Wan]

I checked all three local auto parts stores and they didn't have any gasket material specifically for exhaust (no NAPA around). They were all for oil, gas, hot water. But I needed to get it together to finish making a new riser so I used the hot water material and made my own. It worked fine. I ended up taking it off in a couple of days because the riser came loose at the flange.
There's a lesson there - it tightened down nicely, but then came loose after running the engine. I took it apart and realized the threads in the flange were not very deep and the NPT threads were bottoming out and seemed tight but weren't really. I hacked off about a quarter inch of the threads off the pipe and that solved the problem.
The OEM gasket arrived in the mail and it just appeared to be a green fiber material. Looked just like a cardboard divider. I reinstalled with that - but I think my custom one worked better.