I'm changing the oil on my flathead 6, and to clean the oil pump screen I pulled off the access plate, so now I need a gasket to put it all back together (part # 6698).



I'm going to cut a new gasket, but I'm not sure what it is made of since the old gasket is ancient and completely oil-soaked.



I'm guessing it was a compressed fiber gasket, so I was planning to use this stuff:



Will this material work? If not, what should I be using?

BTW - sorry for the goofy, oversized photos... I just spent the last half hour fighting photobucket AND fte to TRY to get them formatted... #$%@#$%$!!!
Edit - looks like the photos are the right size now. Guess one or the other sites just took a while to update the files.

 

From what I can tell, your new gasket material may not be what you're looking for. That appears to be the paper-type stuff like what's used for water pumps and carb bases, etc. It doesn't address material type in the Ford parts catalog, but I would think it should be a heavier, rubberized cork type gasket like that used on the pan to block gasket. Your photo shows a gasket inside the pan with the bolt plate as well as under the pan with the cover. Let's hope you don't need to change that one, too.

 

I think that will work. It is rubberized. The original gaskets were no great shakes, in terms of leakage. Here's some dope on the material: High Temperature Gasket Roll By NEA - Mills Fleet Farm

I would change the one inside, too -- why not? Either one can leak. Make a couple extras while you're at it.

LOL, look what I found while checking NAPA for the gasket: NAPA AUTO PARTS)

 

Yep, I replaced the outer but not the inner, and it still seeps around the bolts.....

Ross, your link didn't work for me.....

 

The studs look like they provide a direct oil path to the outer plate...just like a VW oil screen. I'd bet that the washers in the picture are copper & crush a little bit to seal up on the stud.

 

It was a list of NAPA parts for a '52 F-1 with 239 flat V8, and included a valve cover seal washer...

 

Thanks for the input guys. In the end I decided to go with cork rubber, as I was able to get a thicker sheet than the rubberized compressed fiber gasket material that I had on hand yesterday. So far so good - no profuse leakage. And I got your joke Ross! Believe me, I have learned first hand that trying to find misc odd parts like this gasket for the 226 is not easy. That's part of why I started cutting gaskets for this truck.

Also I agree that changing the inner gasket would be a good idea... however I can't see how you'd do this without dropping the pan. The oil pump inlet tube sits RIGHT in the center of that big circular opening so you can barely get a finger inside to touch the depression that seats the bolt-ring pictured above. So I guess I'll live with a little seepage through the bolt holes for now.

Hey Dan, you're right about the direct route for oil leakage. But the washers for the access plate on my truck were split ring lock washers - not copper crush washers. Not sure what the originals were... I will say, though, that putting the tight-fitting access plate back on with a leaky, floating bolt assembly was a real treat! Any easier on a VW?