Cardboard boxes for gaskets

Hello everyone,

I recently bought another Bobcat 732 that was advertised as having no compression... When I went to pick it up, the seller cranked the engine over to demonstrate the lack of compression. It was immediately obvious that the compression wouldn't be the issue, rather it sounded like there was no fuel or ignition. They had tried all sorts of things to make it run including installing new carb, new starter, new alternator, new fuel transfer pump, new distributor and all ignition components except for the ignition coil and a few other little odds and ends. I brought the machine home, started looking at it and found that if I sprayed something combustible into the intake of the carb it would fire but die as soon as the stuff was burnt up. So I decided to take the carb out, thinking maybe it needed cleaning. As soon as I got the carb off I noticed something odd, the gasket between the carb and the intake manifold was green and yellow with nutrition information written on it. Turns out it was just a cardboard box someone had sort of cut out to make a gasket with. They didn't even take the time to make the edges nice and smooth, just butchered it with a utility knife and called it good. They had made a few gaskets like this - the valve cover gasket which leaked profusely, the carb to manifold gasket as well as the intake manifold gasket at the head. The cardboard had all turned soft and mushy by now and so there were all kinds of leaks in the intake. I put some fresh gas in it, installed proper gaskets and the machine started and ran perfect! I've used it for a few hours now and it runs great, no issues that I can tell with the hydraulics or hydrostatics either, all in all a great machine! I just thought I'd share what I found, and maybe see what other kinds of fixes that didn't quite work you guys may have come across...

Cereal boxes make good gaskets for intake, oil drain, etc. but I do try to cut them to fit properly, lol.

Wow. Can't say that I've seen cardboard used that way. I have, however, seen bailing wire used in numerous ways beyond the typical uses. Makes you feel better about yourself as a mechanic when you see stuff done that way!

Junkyard

I've used cardboard for gaskets plenty of times with good results, but you have to put at least a little bit of workmanship into them. They're just ugly.

I guess I'm old enough that I've seen this done successfully many times. I was even taught how to use a small ball peen hammer to make these gaskets.

Now you went and ripped it, if you'd been careful you could have reused em.

What is the preferred cardboard? Recycled? Cereal box? Parts box? Are Cat boxes the superior choice? Maybe Uhaul boxes? Medical supply boxes?

Lol I couldn't resist. I'm on hold for almost 20 minutes now with FMCSA so who knows that I might dream up. This music makes me want to pierce my eardrums with an ice pick!

Off topic I know

Junkayrd

excavator said:

I guess I'm old enough that I've seen this done successfully many times. I was even taught how to use a small ball peen hammer to make these gaskets.

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Same here. While the correct gasket from a factory is the preferred part a well made one from a cardboard box will get you going in in pinch.

Like the boss at the shop when I started back in 1970 would say "If you were out in the middle of the Sahara Desert and Rommel was coming over the sand dune to the west" "What would you do?"

Now that the original poster found out how easy a fix this was I'm sure he went back to the person he got this Bobcat from and offered to pay him more than the original price, right? I know I would have problems sleeping if I didn't!

My preferred card board is a coors light box. It has the aluminum on one side and the card board on the other. On a serious note, I have actually used card board as well. I use to work on lots of old tractors and some gaskets were obsolete. I rebuilt an old f20 farmall once , it had the rob bearings that were shimmed between the cap and rod. The babbit was worn but material still there. I used bank checks to shim the babbit bearing back to tolerance. As far as I know its still running in parades and shows.

I do like the hammer trick to make them, I carry various rolls of gasket material. Necessity is the mother of invention!

Junkyard

My old man used to use cig. cartons or parts boxes. use a hammer and a socket to make the holes and some 3m trim spray for install. Never seen one of his fail.

I've used soda cans to make EGR gaskets or exhaust gaskets for small engines. I keep a roll of Red, black rubber and a roll of cork on my truck. I'll also brush a little black permatex thread sealant on the surface


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I used to use the waxed cardboard that International Harvester wrapped their baler twine with in the '70's and '80's. Not for a head gasket, though.

I'll do almost anything to buy a gasket to keep from having to make one with a razor, hammer, scissors, etc.

That is one job that always takes longer than expected, is hard to get right and the gasket always threatens to tear in a critical place at the last second. But I will do it if I have to.

kshansen said:

Now that the original poster found out how easy a fix this was I'm sure he went back to the person he got this Bobcat from and offered to pay him more than the original price, right? I know I would have problems sleeping if I didn't!

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Well no, not exactly, lol!

To be honest I've tried to use plain ol' cardboard for gaskets in the past but I've never had any luck with it... I did make my own carb to manifold gasket using actual gasket paper and a small ball peen hammer, worked great, just a bit time consuming but worth it for sure! Over the years I've made many of my own gaskets this way and the results have been good.

When I was a kid my buddy found an old Vespa style scooter with a 2stroke abandoned in the woods. We found it had a bad head gasket. Having no money and no transportation we made a head gasket out of an old shoebox and got it running! We could ride for about 20 minutes before it burned out and then we'd just make another one! Sometimes you just gotta make do with what you have!!

Just for the hell of is in small engines class we made a headgasket out of grey navistar oil pan silicone on a little briggs, ran it on rubbung alcohol for about 15 minutes with an iv drip till the blue flames came out between the jug and head.

In the eighties and nineties, large rolls of "gasket material" in many different thicknesses were cheap and common at auto parts stores, not so any more. Originally they all had asbestos fibers in them, I wonder what fibers they put in gasket material today. I usually glued them to the casting with 3M weatherstrip adhesive, then after they dried, used a small ball peen to cut them to shape. It worked on most anything besides exhaust manifolds.
When we took engines apart and the gaskets tore, we would use a buffer to remove the gasket material, breathing in all the asbestos particles.

Are Cat boxes the superior choice?

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Absolutely. But they're notoriously expensive...

Maybe raid the Cat dumpster after hours? And to think I just cleaned the back of my truck and threw away several square feet of Cat gasket material! Darn it

Junkyard