Tips/Tricks? Points Gasket Replacement

One of the things I always have trouble with is replacing the points/advance unit gasket.

I know you have to hold one end and pull it a bit to thin it out to fit into the channel. But, with the tension, it seems to pop out of the rounded section just as you are about half way down the next side.

Is there a particular gasket cement that works well?

Anybody have an great tricks for replacing this item?

I'm referring to #15

Barron

The last time I did it, I lubed it with silicone grease and it popped in with no stretching.

My gasket is somewhere over in the corner with the dust bunnies.

I finally just gave up a used a piece of 12ga electrical wire. The copper conductor holds it's shape, and the soft vinyl cover seems to be working well ... no intrusion of oil into the points chest.

Don't think I ever tried grease; always coming out while fighting to try and install it, I figured there's no way it would stay in if I lubed it.

See!

The wire is an excellent idea. That is the type of thing I was fishing for.

I've never got a gasket sized that fit in easy and stayed in. Always a struggle, upside down, in a tiny spot.

What made me think about this was that I was recently at an electronics trade show and a couple of the vendors had gaskets for electronic systems cases to keep the stuff inside clean and dry. The materiels were so nicely formed and resilient that I immediately thought of that points gasket I am always wrestling with and never seems to last long.

Any other novel solutions or installation tricks?

Barron

Lmo1131 said:

My gasket is somewhere over in the corner with the dust bunnies.

I finally just gave up a used a piece of 12ga electrical wire. The copper conductor holds it's shape, and the soft vinyl cover seems to be working well ... no intrusion of oil into the points chest.

Don't think I ever tried grease; always coming out while fighting to try and install it, I figured there's no way it would stay in if I lubed it.

Click to expand...

Now that is a good idea. I always fight the gasket and use super glue to hold it in place. I have to hold it in there with my fingers until the glue dries. I like the wire trick.

I've accumulated several of those gaskets over the years from different vendors. Some will not go into the slot and stay for any reason. I usually pull others out of a different bag and attemp to put them in and they go in and stay with little or no effort. And they just stay in with no glue, adhesive, or any other type of help. Their must be different types of rubber seal material being used by different manufacturers.

What I found that worked good in place of the gasket called out is the oring that goes in the flywheel when you installed on the crankshaft. When cut it is just the right size from one opening to the other. I found this out many years ago when I need to replace the one that was installed and only had this oring and it fit just right and used it for a long time. When I order the right gasket a couple years ago I have had to replace it shortly after and went bak to the oring.

Lmo1131 said:

My gasket is somewhere over in the corner with the dust bunnies.

I finally just gave up a used a piece of 12ga electrical wire. The copper conductor holds it's shape, and the soft vinyl cover seems to be working well ... no intrusion of oil into the points chest.

Don't think I ever tried grease; always coming out while fighting to try and install it, I figured there's no way it would stay in if I lubed it.

Click to expand...

clever idea

I just want to report that I followed up on donbmw's tip.

The flywheel o-ring feels nice, fits perfectly into the rectangular groove without any stretching (just light pressure), says put without any adhesive, and is the exact right length.

Absolutely amazing!

Easiest gasket replacement ever. Unbelievable.

Try it and you will love it.

Barron