Throttle body gasket

[SupraDOHC]

Can these be purchased anywhere other than Toyota outside of a kit? While replacing most of the moving parts in the head I hoped I wouldn't have to remove the throttle body to get the intake cam tower out, but ofcourse I did, and the gasket fell apart upon removal :pat:

[Phoenix]

I've been looking into this too recently. Felpro sells them in the head gasket kit but apparantly not with the intake gasket kit or on their own. I'm emailing felpro to find out what's up with that. I'll let you know what I find.

In the meantime I'm making a template and cutting my own using an exacto knife and a roll of gasket material. BTW, I've sealed the TB before with red rtv alone and I had no problems. 8)

[Tanya]

well I just replaced my red rtv with an actual gasket (that we made) last night, and OMG. You never realise the power loss of what seems to be a "minor" leak until it's fixed. Moderatley driving now, the car chirps through gears, even a mouse squeek into 3rd gear :shock:
some of the previous RTV I used got sucked into the TB so that's like, really bad. I'm gonna need to clean the TB once I get my intake (didn't have a dremel available last night). But even w/ the TB all yucky, I noticed a big difference in acceleration by using a gasket. There still seems to be a tiny tiny air leak on the TPS side, but I'm not sure if it's a hose or not.

When making your TB gasket, try to make the inside circle as smooth as possible, so no air flow interruption.

[Phoenix]

Wow, that's great. I'm making a gasket this time just to be overkill on the safe side but I really didn't believe there was anything wrong with the rtv. I feel a bit more enthusiastic about the gasket making now.

This time I inspected the rtv really well when when I took the intake apart. I noticed another slight disadvantage to rtv alone. It tends to ooze out the edge when you torque the bolts. This reduces your internal diameter slightly.

[ra24man]

You guys realize you're making a 2 dollar part that any Toyota dealer can aquire in a day?

[Phoenix]

You guys realize you're making a 2 dollar part that any Toyota dealer can aquire in a day?

My Toyota dealer needs almost a week to order it. "making" a gasket just involves tracing an outline and cutting it out. Not exactly rocket surgery. :lol:

[Tanya]

lol, no kidding. Why should I drive 30 miles (there and back) to order a 2 dollar part, which wastes more in gas than it costs. Make it yourself and be done w/ it. Took 10 minutes to make last night. A lot faster than the 45 minutes to drive to my dealer ship to and from, wait a day for it to be ordered, etc.

[ra24man]

Minor oversight I suppose...(live less than ten minutes from closest dealer and have 4 less than 30 minutes away). Us suburbanite a-holes...geez!!

[lechner]

When making your TB gasket, try to make the inside circle as smooth as possible, so no air flow interruption.

The Felpro gaskets actually stop slightly short of the inside diameter, so as they are compressed they fill that space instead of jutting into the open space. So what I am saying is, when you trace your gasket, cut it thinner (not as wide) as the metal parts it will go between because it will expand as it is torqued.
Oh, and for those of you who haven't already removed your TB to get the cam tower off, I take off the entire intake runner assembly instead. Those gaskets are easy to come by and this makes it easier to access the lifters/rockers etc. Although you CAN remove the cam tower with the TB in place by removing all bolts and pivoting the rear of it to the center as you pull it up. Just tricky to get it back w/o disturbing rockers.

[Tanya]

yeah I did cut mines thinner, so the airflow wasn't screwed up, and also cut as smooth as possible :)

[Phoenix]

I'm cutting mine tonight. Thanks for the tips. 8)

[SupraDOHC]

In the meantime I'm making a template and cutting my own using an exacto knife and a roll of gasket material.
Thats exactly what I did, I forgot I had a roll of that stuff in my garage. Now my only problem is getting my timing right. I get it to -5deg, move it one tooth, then I have +15deg :mad: I have been working at this all day and I've done it before and never had troubles till now....

[Phoenix]

I made my gasket today. The hardest part was figuring out how to draw an outline of something as awkwardly shaped as the intake plenum. I came up with making pencil rubbings. then outlining the rubbing heavily with a pen with the gasket material under the rubbing so an outline is indented in the gasket material. Then you just use a knife to cut along the outline. I used a scalpel. I think it came out ok considering It's my first attempt. I guess my learn will curve a bit as I do more of them. 8)

This is the rubbing after the outlining

http://www.lazy-bum.com/toyota/albums/userpics/10012/normal_P1010003.JPG

This is the gasket

http://www.lazy-bum.com/toyota/albums/userpics/10012/normal_P1010001.JPG

I'm still gonna email felpro. I'll let y'all know :)



:mk2vroom:

[lechner]

Looks just like the Felpro gasket.

[Tanya]

haha mine is one big square with 4 small holes and one big hole, heh