And...the coolant leak

[SteinOnkel]

Cork/Rubber is a very old school material. Not that it's bad or anything. It just isn't commonly used by the major manufacturer's anymore.

Speaking of which, my modern (ish) VW engine from 2001 uses liquid sealant for the housing for the camshafts and the oil pan from the factory. As do most modern engines. Whether this is due to cost saving, actually seals better or is just easier to replace, I could not say.

[rodo]

Hm...so I rummaged through my gasket set hoping I had another one for the heater pipe. Found one...and it raises questions. The new one I installed a couple of months back was thin paper and now requires my scraping it off in bits. The one I found this morning is thicker, paper, with a waxy coating. Made me wonder if my problem has been a rubbish gasket. Also made me wonder about materials, so I started to google and it appears (appears from web photos, that is) that there is a variety of materials used for this gasket.

[Spider951]

OK, Steinonkel is correct. The "cork" I used is actually "cork-rubber", very likely Fel-Pro product 3018 as sold here locally, though the sheet size I have is different than what is currently in the store (I cut my gasket out from a roll I bought several years ago, apparently the sheet size I have is NLA). Thickness of Fel-Pro 3018 is listed as 0.0625 in, very close to what I just measured (.0650) on my sheet. Durability of "cork-rubber" ?; it has stood up to a bit less than a year of use so far on my car (though not a lot of miles). I don't claim to be the gasket or sealant expert, I just know what I used and did to stop the leak. Good luck. Steve

[rodo]

So far...had a hell of a time trying to align the pipe back to the waterpump...and realized it had, somehow, twisted itself down below the turbo (yeah, oe turbo fun). Several bloodied knuckles later I twisted it back, got it lined up. Here are some things I learned: remove the studs from the waterpump. Gives more room to manouver things. I had already taken the nut off the bracket of the pipe and it seems to me that whenever one is replacing the waterpump/gasket that nut should be loosened. That will give the pipe movement when snugging up the waterpump to pipe nuts. When those are settled then tighten the bracket nut. Might help keep things straight. Anyhoo, hope to have all the hoses on and tightened up tomorrow and then run the pressure test. Whew.

[SteinOnkel]

OK, Steinonkel is correct. The "cork" I used is actually "cork-rubber", very likely Fel-Pro product 3018 as sold here locally, though the sheet size I have is different than what is currently in the store (I cut my gasket out from a roll I bought several years ago, apparently the sheet size I have is NLA). Thickness of Fel-Pro 3018 is listed as 0.0625 in, very close to what I just measured (.0650) on my sheet. Durability of "cork-rubber" ?; it has stood up to a bit less than a year of use so far on my car (though not a lot of miles). I don't claim to be the gasket or sealant expert, I just know what I used and did to stop the leak. Good luck. Steve

That happens more often than people like to admit

I've used the cork/rubber stuff as carburetor base gaskets. Which is about the most hostile environment a gasket can be in. All these still seal up fine, years later.

[DieselSpider]

The cork rubber gasket material lasts a very long time in use as long as it does not dry out. Storing it in a hot dusty location without being sealed in its wrapper or between two tightly mated surfaces is when it more often goes bad. Joints that go without physical molestation and where the mating surfaces themselves have not rotted away can hold their seal for decades and at times over a century.

[rodo]

Okay, cut the cork/rubber, got it fitted, snugged things up, and it appears I have a slight weeping of water. No more dripping, so that is an improvement, but not utterly dry. After sitting overnight, with just water in the system, at the base of the flange it had a tiny bit of moisture. How tight should the nuts that hold the pipe to the water pump be? Feels like I could snug it up a bit more and that might do it. But the torque is so low it must be easy to overtighten.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I can't find a torque spec on these nuts, but my recollection is that they were somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 to 7 ft lbs. Since I've never owned a torque wrench that went that low, or had an inch-pound version, I've just used my 10 mm box end wrench that is about 5 inches long, and tightened those two nuts firm but not nearly as tight as I could go with that wrench. I don't recall ever having a problem with that joint.

-Bryan

[DieselSpider]

I can't find a torque spec on these nuts, but my recollection is that they were somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 to 7 ft lbs. Since I've never owned a torque wrench that went that low, or had an inch-pound version, I've just used my 10 mm box end wrench that is about 5 inches long, and tightened those two nuts firm but not nearly as tight as I could go with that wrench. I don't recall ever having a problem with that joint.

-Bryan

On a bolt with a 10mm head 10 ft lbs would be the max and with a cork gasket 5 to 7 sounds about right. You don't want to over tighten a cork gasket and have it cut/squish through in places.

[DieselSpider]

I can't find a torque spec on these nuts, but my recollection is that they were somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 to 7 ft lbs. Since I've never owned a torque wrench that went that low, or had an inch-pound version, I've just used my 10 mm box end wrench that is about 5 inches long, and tightened those two nuts firm but not nearly as tight as I could go with that wrench. I don't recall ever having a problem with that joint.

-Bryan

On a bolt with a 10mm head 10 ft lbs would be the max and with a cork gasket 5 to 7 sounds about right. You don't want to over tighten a cork gasket and have it cut or squish through in places.

[rodo]

How you know you are getting old: your FIAT leaks out the heater pipe, you try a factory thin gasket and it leaks; you fabricate a thicker gasket and it leaks; you then go to the fiatspider.com website to see what the smart people have experienced and you find a brilliant thread about making a gasket out of cork for the heater pipe...and then you realize that you are the one who not only started that thread but also already did that with cork and had it working.

Sheesh, what a road! Had it all together and to good effect, thanks other chaps who gave great ideas in this thread, and then I had to take it all apart because the turbo/manifold needed coming off.

Well, happy to report that for the second go around the cork with rtv blue works like a charm. I highly recommend this method.