TOPIC: After-Market gasket sets

I got a screaming good deal on a set of gaskets off EBAY for my inline-6 a while back.
,....and the crowd asks,"Which inline-6???"


Anyway,...I finally got around to opening the set.
The gaskets are a bright, almost florescent green, and the fuel pump diaphragm is bright red. There are also some real light gray gaskets in the kit.
As I said, I got the set quite cheap, and now I know why.
I haven't found a gasket yet that fits. They are all too large.
In other words;
If you put the port-side baffle plate to block gasket on the block with one cap-screw in the lower aft corner, the lower fore corner hole for that cap-screw is a wee bit too far forward.
And the misalignment gets worse as you progress up the side to where the holes in the gasket for the top cap-screws are about a 1/2 of a hole too high.
I thought that maybe it was just a fluke - a one gasket oops - but the transfer port gasket has the same problem & the fuel pump kit doesn't align with the three mounting holes either.
I believe that somewhere I read that these gaskets are Italian made knock-offs, but I can't say for sure.
I suspect that whoever is producing them scanned an original, but didn't quite get their scan sized corrrectly before they programmed their cutter & started banging these sets out???
Sierra Marine is coming out with some gaskets made out of the same green gasket material, but the Sierra gaskets fit properly.
So,...Just beware - When "It's too good to be true $$" things like this pop up on EBAY,...It probably isn't going to work out.
SIGH

Thom

Can't say it often enough,,,ya get what ya pay for.
Time to get the hole punch out and do some field engineering.

Hi Thom,
I jumped on those as well. I did do my 1500 using mostly those gaskets. I used a stock Merc one on the inner baffle plate, just in case they did something to treat it, that is a fussy place on the in-lines. As a side note I did notice two of the bolts really needed to be a few threads shorter to make sure they clamped on the plate rather than bottom in the threaded hole. They where down towards the bottom area of the plate. I prethreaded all the bolts to check the height of the heads would be below the thickness of the plate to check for this. I also used the Merc specified epoxy for the bolts
I do remember fitting these gaskets, I did not have to trim anything though. On the outer water jackets was sort of a best compromise lining the bolts up, I loose fitted a few bolts all around to help align everything, same with port covers and rear jacket. The bottom gaskets, PH to adapter, and adapter to the intermediate housing, particularly around the motor mounts where a tight to align this gasket, I tore my first one where it is narrow in cross section. They all seemed to compress into position fine. I use adhesive around the plug holes as you know the gasket can blow out and adhesive seems to help. The cork pieces they supplied seemed fine for the crankcase.
That all said I have not seen any issues as far as sealing goes. I painted the PH which hid the ugly dayglo green gasket edges.
I did not use the fuel related gaskets, I had Merc kits and used those.
I guess my overall feeling was a bit disapointed with them and was concerned about seal failure although bottom line is they seem to seal fine, then again only half a season of use so far. I think given the choice I'd go Merc but I'll use what have of these sets on future projects till I use the three sets I got.
My 2 cents,
Randy

I have a poop deck full of those inner exhaust baffle gaskets for the in line six (Merc. Mar. of course) should any one require them.

Thom. I think I commented on those in the newsgroup as well. I bought a set a few years ago that I only used last year. Gaskets were made by a large gasket maker in Italy specifically for ===marine i believe. Mine were sized correctly but the inner water jacket gasket did compress and cut. Not the source of my water leak as you know, however, I was surprised to see how thin it compressed around the mounting bosses.

Here is a pic of the green gaskets I got.

Randy,
I'm glad that the gaskets worked okay for you & Dave. Maybe my set was a fluke.??
Randy,
The inner water-jacket cap-screws need to be 7/8" long and a washer installed to work in all the holes. The few spots that have shallow holes due to the cylinders do have a raised boss on the inner water-jacket to compensate for teh short holes.
I agree that this is a very critical area that needs to be done correctly.
Resi-Weld, Mercury Part Number 651501 or 92-65150 1,...is ideal for sealing the threads and area surrounding the shanks of the cap-screws in this area.

Randy & Dave,
I have attached a picture of the faulty gaskets to compare to what you guys used successfully.
Please let me know if these are the same brand as what you guys used.
Thanks,
Thom

At first glance that does appear to be a DIFFERENT gasket than the ones I got. I will check today, the name on the gasket material does not seem right compared to mine.

I do have the same green rope though.

I stand corrected, attached you can see the same intake cover gasket as Thoms and indeed the writing on the gasket is the same. Also shown are the fuel pump kits with the red membrane. So, it seems we are all talking about the same kit. Athena is a LARGE gasket supplier in Italy and as you can see by the backing cardboard they were shipped to me on they were made exclusively by Athena for Pro Marine. Once again, I did not have any problems with the gaskets. I purchased on ebay as well.

Those are the gaskets I have and used, at least they look remarkably close. Mine had Italy somewhere on/in the package as well.
Thom, Ahhhhh... the baffle is thicker where the holes are shorter...makes sense... I was baffled( no pun intended) as to why Merc would leave a bolt so close to bottoming in a clamping situation. I only took one thread off the 2 (maybe 3) bolts so I guess I am a smidge further away from bottoming, I can save that effort next time, thanks for the heads up. One curious thing is flat washers have been under the baffle bolt heads of every inline I have touched but the P/L call out is for a lockwasher, did they change? I still used flat washers and new bolts, same sizes as originals. I only use the Resi-weld, it so odd and unique to use on bolts there has to be a good reason Merc did it this way, don't mess with what they think is best.
FYI Mc Master Carr is a great supplier for graded hardware, they even have graded stainless and the interference fine thread nuts Merc used on the earlier motors, same color too, the slight yellow surface treat. Not the Depot Made in China junk. They have all the various washer sizes for each fastener size, Merc tended to use the smaller, thicker versions of a given flat washer size that are harder to find local. They take C Cards and generally it shows up the next day, they have a UPS deal I guess.
Randy

Thom and Randy, the only part of the gasket sets in question that I had not used yet was the fuel pump kits with the red diaphragm. I put together the large rectangular pump and mounted it on my 1500. Everything fit perfectly. I ran a static pressure test at 7 psi on the pump head and it did not leak down or weep fluid anywhere. I increased the pressure to 11 psi, still good.

It sounds like I shouldn't toss the remaining gaskets, and go ahead and try them on future builds.
When I get the next inline-6 block on the bench I'll snap pictures of how poorly several of these gaskets fit. Maybe most will work fine.
Thanks guys,
Thom