Nominations for improved cooling head gaskets - fourth round

[Harv]

Ladies and gents,

My sincere apologies for the delay in update. With all my chasing, I have only been able to find one Australian company who can manufacture small runs of gaskets. There are several places that can do copper, but very, very few that can do the steel and composite gaskets we need. Most people will not want to play with copper gaskets.

The local company makes their gaskets in two ways. For unique jobs (one or two gaskets for oddball engines) they are hand made. This is not cheap. For medium size jobs (like our order of 50 or so gaskets) they use an overseas manufacturer. The local mob now have a quote from their overseas manufacturer ($128.83 + GST), and a batch size (100 gaskets). It's slow to progress as the local bloke does this as a side-hustle, and the overseas manufacturer normally does very large production runs.

I think I can still make this work.

Plan for now is for the overseas manufacturer to quote on and then make some test samples. I'll check these for quality, the same as I did with the AA Gaskets test samples many years ago. If all is OK, I will proceed with an order. For those that want them, I will on-sell them at cost (same as I did with the last 3 AA Gaskets runs). I suspect I will have more than a few leftovers, and will stash them away. History has shown that about once every two months someone gets in touch wanting one of these gaskets (its a curse). This should let me answer those queries for a few years until we need another run.

Please bear with me as I work through this. I understand that some people will no longer want their gaskets - all good, no harm, no foul.

Cheers,
Harv

[BS]

Appreciate your efforts Harv!


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[Orange Betty]

All good Harv, thanks for persevering.

Dave

[Blacky]

Luckily I still have a few left after ordering more than I need for people who said they wanted one during the last couple of rounds - and then not picking them up …….

[Harv]

Called the gentleman who is supplying the gaskets last Friday. His overseas supplier had been unresponsive (for weeks) about the cost of making some test pieces. Have given the go-ahead to make the test pieces anyway... my risk on the cost.

Once I get the test pieces and confirm they look like they should, I will finalise the order and get 100 in. Should be plenty of spares for the latecomers.

Cheers,
Harv

[BS]

Thanks for the update Harv


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[Blacky]

[Stygian]

Called the gentleman who is supplying the gaskets last Friday. His overseas supplier had been unresponsive (for weeks) about the cost of making some test pieces. Have given the go-ahead to make the test pieces anyway... my risk on the cost.

Once I get the test pieces and confirm they look like they should, I will finalise the order and get 100 in. Should be plenty of spares for the latecomers.

Cheers,
Harv

Thanks for the update Harv. It's disappointing to learn just how much manufacturing capability we've lost overseas...

[Harv]

I tried, I really did, but I believe that composite head gaskets are no longer manufactured anywhere in Australia following the changes at AA Gaskets. Many places can make copper (e.g. Swansons), but none composite.

Cheers,
Harv

[Fex]

Out of interest Harv, what’s the rough price range for copper?
Cheers, Andrew

[Blacky]

I bought a copper head gasket for the rattler a couple of years ago and it was around $225 as I recall

[Harv]

That's about the price of them. They are a little less robust for handling, and need care not to bend (the composite ones are more forgiving). They are often sold as-stamped, which is work hardened. This can be fixed by annealing with an LPG torch, but adds another step to the assembly process.

Cheers,
Harv

[Fex]

Thanks gents.
Cheers, Andrew

[Harv]

We are making steady progress on the improved cooling gaskets. The test pieces arrived last night, and they look good. I have asked for a final pricing for a batch of 100, and provided it is reasonable I will give the go-ahead for the manufacturing to start. My risk on the cost.

Once I know the final pricing (including postage to you) and timing, then I will update this thread and ask for final nominations. Some people will still want them, some will pull out, and some newcomers will ask for them. All good.

Cheers,
Harv

[Blacky]

Onya Harv I will check stock and let you know , will also mention it at the next meeting once we have a price and see if anyone over this side of the swamp is chasing one