Champion Rebuild Questions

[Bob Wight]

I’m cleaning up the powerhead on my Champion Lite Twin and had a few questions:

1. The head gaskets are a metal reinforced fiber material (metal core with fiber each side, see pic). Do I have to go back with the same type of material or can I just a good quality Fel-Pro fiber gasket of the same equivalent thickness?

2. Is a gasket sealer required for the head gasket or the crankcase-cylinder gasket? Existing gaskets were apparently installed dry.

3. I find the pistons do not have a locating pin for the 2 piston rings. I assume I should position the rings with the end gaps 180 degrees apart and not in line with the cylinder ports?

Bob

1937 Champion D2C Deluxe Lite Twin
1954 Johnson CD-11
1955 Johnson QD-16
1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18
1957 Evinrude 3022
1958 Johnson QD-19
1958 Johnson FD-12
1959 Johnson QD-20

“Every 20 minute job is only a broken bolt away from a 3-day project.”
"Every time you remove a broken or seized bolt an angel gets his wings."

[Buccaneer]

Even if you could find the correct metal reinforced gasket material, it would
be hard to work with. I wonder how a milling machine would work?
Randy in Tampa had some professional gasket made up for the PO-15’s
I believe. Not sure of the name of the outfit.
If you go with “make your own”, then at least look for the proper thickness
and something with a high temp rating.
I’ve made some for small engines out of fiber gasket material and gooped them
up good with the high temp copper gasket sealant. I never ran them long
enough to see how they will hold up.

Prepare to be boarded!

[Bob Wight]

I know that some folks have sent old gaskets off to Cometic to have them make up new ones. Fel-pro has a metal reinforced material of the same thickness, but as you noted, customer reviews said it was hard to work with. Cometic does have a high density fiber gasket that is allegedly fuel and oil resistant and good for temps up to 650 degrees. Thought I might try that.

Bob

1937 Champion D2C Deluxe Lite Twin
1954 Johnson CD-11
1955 Johnson QD-16
1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18
1957 Evinrude 3022
1958 Johnson QD-19
1958 Johnson FD-12
1959 Johnson QD-20

“Every 20 minute job is only a broken bolt away from a 3-day project.”
"Every time you remove a broken or seized bolt an angel gets his wings."

[frankr]

Those 4-bolt Champion/Scott heads were sort of notorious for blowing the gaskets. That’s probably why they later went to 6-bolt heads.

[Buccaneer]

Bob Wight wrote:

I know that some folks have sent old gaskets off to Cometic to have them make up new ones. Fel-pro has a metal reinforced material of the same thickness, but as you noted, customer reviews said it was hard to work with. Cometic does have a high density fiber gasket that is allegedly fuel and oil resistant and good for temps up to 650 degrees. Thought I might try that.

That’s why I was wondering if anyone tried making one on a milling machine……
Hard to work with some of that material. Perhaps a small cutter in a
Dremel would help out?

Prepare to be boarded!

[Author]

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