2.9 Ford Sump gasket advice

[cnprior]

Evening All,

I am trying to fit a sump gasket to a Ford V6, 2.9Litre engine. My best mate is a Fork Lift Truck mechanic. He suggested I use some hylomar to seat the gasket and half moon seals (Crank and Flywheel ends). Following his advice, I got hylomar (blue) in between my fingers and applied it to the gasket, boths sides as per his intructions, then seated them to the block, followed by the half moon seals......but I could not get the half moon seals to fit snugly in anticipation of the sump being fitted.

The hylomar went almost dry (not completely - as it doesn't dry out completely) - but it went really tacky.

In the end I gave up.

Cleaned up the faces and got another gasket and half moon sales out to fit 'dry'.
Am I doing it wrong fitting the gaskets dry between block and sump? Should I use hylomar? was my best mate right, but my skills inadequate......I always thought that gaskets should be fitted dry, or use an instant gasket as the alternative when gaskets are no longer available.

On a final note, the standard of the second gaskets are poor, does anyone have a recommendation for bottom end sump gasket and half moon seals for such an engine?

Thanks,

Chris

[cnprior]

Wrong image....that was the second gasket.

Here was the gasket covered in hylomar.......sticky as hell !

[Belle427]

I'm not an engine builder but any i have done I find the sealant a hindrance as it allows things to move around.
I prefer to stick things in place overnight with a small amount of sealant.
Quality gaskets help too as some are very poor fitting.

[Twig62]

From memory of using blue Hylomar (admittedly a long time ago) it was supposed to stay slightly tacky.

[Boosted LS1]

OP, go to ebay and look for a cork gasket set that has the half moon seals. It'll be about £14 iirc.

Buy some Loctite black si5980 and apply to the block face. It's oil/petrol resistant and highh temp. Lay the gasket on the block and hold in place with bolts while it glues to the block. Get the half moon seals and trim out the end's so the seals match the tabs on the cork gaskets. Don't worry to much because before the sump goes on you're going to add loctite black to the ends of the half moons. Fit sump and tighten down.

Before the rear mains cap was/is fitted some loctite should be applied to the block mating face.

I build colognes (24v) and the above never fails.

I gave up on hylomar eons ago.

[twibs]

Try gaskets for classics on ebay. Victor reinz also do a black sealant that works well

[PaulKemp]

The half moon seal is fiddly to fit and you take time and care to fit them carefully, fitting the gasket to the block first, if there are small fibre wedges with this kit they should be pressed in to the hole under the ends of the half moons with a little sealant as this is a major leak point, I spread a thin layer of grey Hylomar on the block before fitting the half moons and gasket, put the sump on and hold in place uncompressed until the sealant goes off over night, next day drop the sump, thin layer of grey Hylomar on the sump face replace sump let Hyloma go off then nip up to required torque so as not to crush the gasket.
I don’t get sump leaks

[PaulKemp]

The half moon seal is fiddly to fit and you take time and care to fit them carefully, fitting the gasket to the block first, if there are small fibre wedges with this kit they should be pressed in to the hole under the ends of the half moons with a little sealant as this is a major leak point, I spread a thin layer of grey Hylomar on the block before fitting the half moons and gasket, put the sump on and hold in place uncompressed until the sealant goes off over night, next day drop the sump, thin layer of grey Hylomar on the sump face replace sump let Hyloma go off then nip up to required torque so as not to crush the gasket.
I don’t get sump leaks

[cnprior]

Paul - I do have two pieces of what looks like plastic in the pack, do you have any photo of where the wedges go please, as the workshop manual does not show their fitment? Thanks.