Making your own....

[Chris727 2,014]

Gaskets that is.... I was going to replace the air filter element on my 917 the other day and accidentally dropped a chunk of debris into the air cleaner elbow and down into the carb. I found the gasket between the carb and intake was shot. I called around but could not locate one. The soonest I could have one would have been five days. Took matters into my own hands and thought I could modify a K-Series single cyl gasket (bolt pattern was the same) by using a hollow punch to add the one missing hole. No luck as the gaskets were too old and brittle to keep from breaking. I knew I had some gasket material laying around. I needed to make a 1-3/8" hole in the center. I didn't want to mess with little knives with dull points. Found a CI briggs air cleaner base has the correct size inlet with a sharp edge to use as a punch.

All done:

[yukon 331]

nice job it looks professional

[fishnwiz 3,290]

Mine never come out that nice looking.

[Talntedmrgreen 1,978]

dOddOd

[Johnrenk 40]

The material , is it cork/rubber mix? It is one heck of a nice job.

[720nut 4,225]

Nice job ChrisdOddOdway to save another

[Chris727 2,014]

Thanks guys. The material is more of a felt gasket material. I had received some aftermarket Briggs sump gaskets for 7-8hp vertical shaft engines and the material inside of the inner portion of the gasket was still there in the package. These large chunks of material are great for making more gaskets.

[simplewrench 544]

Looks great, I have set the gasket material over the opening and used a ballpeen hammer to tap around the openings to "cut" the material which works pretty well. Old mechanics trick just have to make sure nothing moves around.

[spi 418]

looks nice..........I usually use an old file folder or something, never look quite that nice

[SmilinSam 4,028]

I've found myself making more and more such gaskets. Was buying rolls of that gasket material from NAPA until they recently dropped it. Bought the last one I got from off Ebay .

I have a set of xacto knives and hole punches to use to make them. Found that surgical scissors work good too, better than the xacto's.