92swtslvr

is it the gasket that seperates the upper and lower halves of the intake manifold?

QCRAZY

You have a gasket on each side of the TB.

One to the intake manifold and one to the plastic intake plenum. The one to the intake plenum is a bad design but there are "fixes" posted.

moribundman

The intake plenum gasket makes a seal between the plenum and the throttle body. It's a roughly oval shaped thick rubber gasket that slips over the throttle body. The throttle body gasket is a thin plastic gasket that makes the seal between the throttle body and the intake manifold. The intake manifold has gaskets between its upper and lower half and the cylinder heads.

moribundman

38 seconds!

QCRAZY

:-P

VAP

If it's the green one from Audi it's a paper gasket with a wax-like sealant on it. Very very similar to milk-carton paper fibre tho half the thickness.

It'll easily tear and reveal it's layered paper construction. Also an old one will delaminte itelf upon removal. A single-ply plastic cannot delaminate. And plastic would soften/distort under heat and mounting torque.

Ya got a nice thing going with your A/B sensor setup tho ;-)

moribundman

Yeah, I'm taking about the less than 1 mm thin/thick green gasket. Same material as the valley pan gasket. And yes, I just tore up the old one I still have, and it seems there's a fibrous paperlike substance between two layers of what I believe to be a very hard and slick synthetic material that must have some pretty good heat-resistent properties, although, when I held a flame to it, the material melted and bubbled up like burning "plastic."

What's your opinion on the power source for my little meter? Will 14.5 V fry the meter that's rated 5V-12 V?

VAP

and made-do with a few hand-made from milk cartons. It's an old racer's trick. Worked great and insulated the throttle body from heat even better. No need for heat resistance in that area as the TB never sees much over 150F and operates when cruising nearer 90F. It gets hotter when you turn the car off after running for awhile then sitting when heat from other areas migrates or radiates into it... when it can't cool itself via internal air flow.

Top of the intake manifold runs at about 70F on a hot day even when racing. Let it sit for 15 minutes and it's over twice that temp. Any time any part of the induction system is taking in air it's always running much much cooler than you'd think. It only gets hot after turning the car off and letting it sit when it soaks up heat due to migratory and radiant transmission.

Since Auto Speed did that article I'd trust that your meter will be fine wih 14.5 volts. They work on the same voltages we do in Australia and those guys are VERY good at what they do. I'd look for it to have more affect on longevity than any immediate failure but at the price you could replace 5 of them to my one. If you have to replace them once every couple of years it's no big deal. Routine maintenance.

moribundman

"Mad COW Racing Team"

I figured the meter would be alright. I've never actually fried any electronic equipment by exceeding voltage a little. And you're right, longevity isn't that much of a concern with a relatively low price. And it will last longer than the car anyway, I'm afraid.

VAP

intact as a hedge against those taking flames to the gasket surface confirming if it's milk "carton" or the more familiar polypropylene gallon milk containers ;-)

PS; Ever hear of "polyperse/polymerase" waxes? Thats the plastic-like sealing substance on those gaskets. Under a pre-determined heat range and pressure it's designed to flow and permeate the absorbent material it's applied to making it an ideal gasket sealing material that will conform to minor surface scratches and remain resiliant thru-out its life.