Reuse intake manifold/plenum gasket?

[dmention7]

I kinda hate to start a new thread for this, but search wasn't helping me.

Can the metal gasket between the intake manifold and plenum be reused or is it best to replace it?

Also, does anyone have any suggestions where to look for the long bolts that hold the plenum/manifold together? One of them twisted clean in half when I was attempting to remove it. I thought we used to have a dealer sponsor here who was awesome at tracking that stuff down, but I don't see their forum section anymore.

Thanks!

 

[MS3_KIDD]

it would be wise to always use new gaskets. the old gasket has already been distorted and you want a new gasket in when its torqued. coughing up the mula for a new gasket is alot better that slapping it back together with the old gasket and having to take it back apart down the road when you have a vacume leak

 

[dmention7]

That's what I was thinking too... just checking in case someone wanted to tell me otherwise. That, and I didn't want to post a thread just about the damn bolt. lol

 

[MS3_KIDD]

yeah better safe then sorry. if you have a mazda dealer your comfortable doing business with you could always give that a shot for a fastener set

thats another one of thoes things that i personally just get new set of right off the bat. if one distorted now, all the rest have the same number of miles on them and have seen all the same conditions. granted you could most likely get away with getting one fastener. but if something can go wrong, it will go wrong

 

[dmention7]

Unfortunately, the local dealers' parts departments don't inspire a lot of confidence in me when it comes to stuff like that. One of them couldn't even look up a stock exhaust gasket for me, and another one spent almost 20 minutes trying to track down a crush washer for the oil drain plug, despite the fact that the service manual specifies replacement at each oil change. =/ I'd rather weld the mani back together than deal with those gomers again... heh

 

[MS3_KIDD]

ahh im sorry to hear that. my first few expierences with my local mazda dealer. they would always look everything up on their computer and tell me i didnt have a mazdaspeed. i ended up befriending the one guy that actually knew about the mazdaspeed line and he had told me at this dealer the mazdaspeed parts werent listed on the computer and that i had to tell the to look at the catalog. so it goes with out saying that unless this guy is there when i go now i just tell them to let me see the catalog and i tell them what i need.

 

[justanothermp5]

im just resusing the metal gasket on mine, i reused gaskets a few times and they worked fine, just inspect them before you do and make sure they are line up and the bolts are torqued

 

[GiJoe]

It depends on what kind of gasket it is really. I reuse gaskets alot but never the stock gaskets. Haven't found a stocker I trust yet.

 

[GiJoe]

Unfortunately, the local dealers' parts departments don't inspire a lot of confidence in me when it comes to stuff like that. One of them couldn't even look up a stock exhaust gasket for me, and another one spent almost 20 minutes trying to track down a crush washer for the oil drain plug, despite the fact that the service manual specifies replacement at each oil change. =/ I'd rather weld the mani back together than deal with those gomers again... heh

If they are anything like my dealer here. You have to ask each one of them if they know what an MSP is. if the one guys that knows what he's doing isn't there, and if it's possible tell them its for a regular protege.

 

[justanothermp5]

its the metal one in between the 2 intake mani parts, but onlinemazdaparts.com is the place you were looking for that used to be a sponsor on here
there a great place to buy OEM stuff, luckily they are right down the road from me lol

 

[GiJoe]

I don't remember what the stock mani gasket was like. It's been quite a long time since I've used it. But as long as he's carefull he should be able to reuse it, if it's a good quality metal gasket.

 

[dmention7]

Yeah, I don't know what that type is called, but it's a typical metal gasket that's ridged on both faces to compress and make a tight seal. I've re-used them for exhaust applications before, but it's a lot less work to replace an exhaust gasket and a lot less serious if they leak.

Also, onlinemazdaparts.com is the first place I went to look up the bolts, but when you have the actual parts guy on the forum, they can look up tons of little stuff that's not in those online catalogs. I'm pretty sure they're the ones I was thinking of, who found some random parts for me back when they were sponsors here... oh well.

 

[dmention7]

So I ended up deciding to hog out the whole VICS area (like what JDMSam and a few others have done). At least one person asked in that thread what he did about the gasket (since that process bores out the 8 individual channels between the plenum and manifold, into 2 large channels) but never got a reply. I guess I figure at that point you might as well just use the appropriate flavor of permatex when rejoining the mani, instead of trying to hack up a new gasket to fit correctly. Anyone else care to add their $0.02?

 

[justanothermp5]

i used permatex for a throttle body gasket and its working fine still

 

[KrayzieFox]

Never reuse gaskets.. period.

/thread