Dumb question about 8n front distributor gaskets

[Kid Shileen]

I recently ordered a gasket set for my front mount. The old gasket for the cap was paper. The new one is cork. much thicker than the old one.. the clips won’t close. Should I soften the gasket with oil or order a different kit? Thanks for your help.

 

[JMOR]

I recently ordered a gasket set for my front mount. The old gasket for the cap was paper. The new one is cork. much thicker than the old one.. the clips won’t close. Should I soften the gasket with oil or order a different kit? Thanks for your help.

apply more force in clips.....they are springy

 

[mhb@ufe]

I recently ordered a gasket set for my front mount. The old gasket for the cap was paper. The new one is cork. much thicker than the old one.. the clips won’t close. Should I soften the gasket with oil or order a different kit? Thanks for your help.

The cap should have a grove that the cork gasket goes into.

 

[Kid Shileen]

Got it in the groove. I’ll apply more force

 

[ihmike2003]

I just got a gasket from amazon, stevens was the seller. It was too wide to fit the groove. Pretty thick also. So I found an o-ring that fit in the groove. Had to cut it because it was too big diameter (circumference) but left the split at the bottom of cap. The cap has a hole at the bottom so I figured it would be okay that it has a small gap at the bottom. Spring clips barely snapped shut even though the o-ring was barely above the cap surface. O-ring was probably between 3/32" and 1/16" thickness.

 

[JMOR]

I just got a gasket from amazon, stevens was the seller. It was too wide to fit the groove. Pretty thick also. So I found an o-ring that fit in the groove. Had to cut it because it was too big diameter (circumference) but left the split at the bottom of cap. The cap has a hole at the bottom so I figured it would be okay that it has a small gap at the bottom. Spring clips barely snapped shut even though the o-ring was barely above the cap surface. O-ring was probably between 3/32" and 1/16" thickness.

Good for you, but I don't see a question here?

 

[ihmike2003]

It seemed Kid did not say if he ever got the clips to snap on to distributer cap or not. If he got the same gasket I did then it would be impossible to do that because new cork gasket is way too thick even if he got it in the groove. I was not asking a question just trying to help out Kid. Maybe I posted in the wrong place but I thought I was replying to the question Kid asked. I don't know

 

[Kid Shileen]

Sorry guys. I got a paper gasket. Fit just fine. Thanks for your help

 

[rock54]

Sorry guys. I got a paper gasket. Fit just fine. Thanks for your help

Where did you get the paper gasket?

 

[DanielW]

Don't just apply more force. This is a common problem with front mount dizzies. The cork gasket is meant to be turned sideways ('on edge') to slide down into the groove on the cap. When done like this, only a small amount of the gasket protrudes to do the actual sealing, and it will clip properly. If you keep the cork gasket on its flat surface (the way it comes out of the box) you'll have the problem you noted of the spring clips not working without stretching the heck out of them. And (more significantly) the cap will also sit too far proud of the dizzy body. This often causes a problem with the rotor not coming close enough to the contact terminals to consistently supply spark. This is especially problematic with several new aftermarket caps where the terminals molded into the cap body don't extend down as far as they did on the original caps. This should be one of the first things to check if you find an N with a front-mount dizzy and no spark or erratic running conditions.

That's assuming you have a cap with an appropriate groove for the cork gasket to slide in when turned 'on edge'. If I remember right, the very original dizzies didn't actually have that groove and used a paper gasket. But 99% of the N's you'll find these days have a newer cap with the groove for the cork gasket.

 

[Kid Shileen]

Where did you get the paper gasket?

I made on with gasket material