At the risk of getting beat up, I would like to ask the question again about getting the gasket to seal on the glass fuel bowl on the Holley 1904 Carburetor from my '54 F250. I have seen numerous Threads about this issue on this Forum as well as others, but have not seen anyone who said "This fixed my problem." I bought a kit from Mac's, and it had a rubber bowl gasket with it. I put it on several years ago, with a light coating of silicone, and it never leaked. A week ago, I finally had a mechanic put in the kit for me, he put in a new hard cardboard gasket, and threw away the rubber one. It has leaked since. My questions, and what I have been able to find out:

Has anyone found a vender that sells a rubber gasket by itself, without buying a whole new kit? The kit I had was 15114A, I believe made by Walker Products Inc., they will not sell directly, but said O'Reillys is there seller. O'Reillys don't show the Walker part number, although Walker's website has a parts diagram showing part #13 Gasket-Bowl Cover G170-1.

Somewhere I thought I saw NAPA could get a cork gasket, but they tell me no. I have also seen where the cork gaskets still leaked.

Is there any type of sealant to put on the cardboard or cork, that will not be affected by gasoline? I see Blue Silicone is a No No, as it plugs up the jets etc. I saw one thread that said use Indian Head gasket shellac, so bought some from NAPA, today a mechanic told me gas will eat it up also.
Two other products suggested were Permatex PermaShield #85420 or Loctite 515 gasket eliminator. Has anyone had luck with either?

I see the possibility the bowl itself could be warped and I will check that when I pull the glass cover off. I don't want to tighten the screws anymore as it sounds like that is what warps the bowl, and don't want to crack the glass.

Hopefully I have not repeated all the same questions asked before, but I am running out of options and places to research. If I cannot find a rubber gasket, I will probably try cutting a gasket out of a slightly thicker piece of cork material, try to seal it with something, and try only tightening only 1/4 turn past snug on each screw.

Any suggestions are welcome, or if there are threads I missed that actually had a solution I am all ears.

Be gentle, I know I am probably opening a hornets nest, again.

 

I had the same issue, got a sheet of cork and made my own gasket, never leaked since. (KNOCK WOOD)

 

I am unfamiliar with your gasket but if it is cork try this.Light the cork gasket up by itself with a match, for a second or two.It causes cork to swell,I have done this several times on squashed sediment bowl gaskets.Worked like a charm!

 

These guys sell the cardboard style and seem to warn against the rubber:
Holley 1904 1960 Glass Bowl Gasket

These guys have seemingly everything for 1904's:
https://buy.walkerproducts.com/carbu...omponents.html

 

I think that is the one that goes between the glass bowl and the thin metal retaining ring that the screws and clamps catch onto to hold the bowl against the carb. Part #11 here:



I may be wrong though.

 

To answer your question though the last one I got had a rubber gasket and it was from NAPA. I bought a whole rebuild kit though.

 

I second the cork gasket. Go to AZ or other places and buy a sheet of cork gasket material. Place your glass bowl over the cork and trace with a ink pen. Take a razor knife and cut it out. You will need to make 2 gaskets, one goes between the glass and the carb body, the second one cushions between the retaining ring and the glass. The critical one is the glass to carb body. Those gaskets found in the kits are worthless and they provide very little sealing. Also, if your carb body has some warp (like most 1904s do) the cork fills the gap. One other thing, with the ethanol in the gas these days make sure you run the truck often.

 

Buy a small sheet of neoprene rubber and cut one. I do it all the time on my vintage cars.

 

Neoprene usually doesn't hold up to US gas, with alcohol, MBTE, god knows what else. Even Viton is questionable.

 

Interesting. I haven't had a problem yet but we don't have alcohol mixes either.

 

Thanks for the input so far. I have the #11 gaskets that go between the glass and the retaining ring, got those and the hard bowl gaskets from Mike's Carburetor parts. I think the #11 just helps protect the glass from the ring. I will probably try cutting a cork gasket, as I can't find any rubber ones, and I did get a sheet of cork that is actually thicker than the rubber gasket was. Other than trying the match to make it swell, which I don't think I need to do since it is already thicker, does anyone suggest coating the cork with anything, thin layer of silicone, Indian Head, peanut butter (kidding) just to stop any seeping? Also, does the 1/4 turn on the screws after they are snug sound correct, can't remember where I read that. Maybe the overtightening is smashing the gasket too much to make a good seal?

 

I wouldn't use anything but the cork. Sealants and chemicals can cause problems and most are not gas resistant. Just use the cork and evenly tighten things down.

 

Put a thin coat of Fuel-Lube on the gaskets and put it together. I wouldn't let silicone sealant anywhere near my fuel system.

Apparently Parker Fuel-Lube is getting hard to find, so this is the replacement: EZ TURN LUBRICANT from Aircraft Spruce

That can will last your family through 3 generations. This is a grease that doesn't dissolve in fuel. It works on neoprene, cork, cardboard etc. It is great for O-rings on parts that move like a fuel selector valve if you have dual gas tanks.

I have used this for years on carb parts, base gaskets, and on those cork fuel bowl gaskets on my 55 tractor.

Dan

 

Update on the progress. Ran into a couple more dead ends with Holley, O'Riellys, and AutoZone. I cut out a couple of gaskets from the cork using one of the fiberboard gaskets as a template. It seems to be a cork/rubber combination and is about 1/8 inch thick. Used a straight edge to check if the bowl was warped, seemed straight on the bottom lip, but a little warped on top. I figure that is probably not so bad as the fuel should never get to the top of the bowl. Installed the cork gasket and glass bowl cover, avoided the temptation to smear something on it to help seal. Tightened up the screws in a alternating pattern until just snug, then gave each about another 1/4 turn. Started up and ran a little bit, no leak. Took it out and drove it to get hot, still no leak. I am holding my breath, as I know some of you said it was ok at first, but started leaking later. If that does it, I will let all know the results.

 

Holley 1904 Carburetor Rebuild Part 2, Reassembly - IH PARTS AMERICA maybe something here can help