Quote:
put the bolt/screw/nut back where it went while taking things apart
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Good idea. I'll have to remember that.
Webasto heater install continued:
I'd mentioned before about how a previous owner of the heater had cut off the part of the label that indicated the manufacture date.
Now that I have everything apart I have a better idea of it's age. This figure on the top of the Heat Exchanger appears to indicate it was cast in the 5th month of 1996.
On the Housing Shell is a similar figure for the 4th month of 1997.
In the center of the Burner Insert is another for the 9th month of 2000.
I'm guessing that the heater was manufactured in 1997 and serviced in 2000 or 2001.
Before getting to reassembly I want to write about the gaskets.
To repair the heater I ordered
Gasket Repair Kit 82302a from a local truck supply business which is my closest Webasto parts seller. With shipping it came to $37 and contained three items.
First item is the rubber pad that goes beneath the heater. The repair manual calls it a "seal" but parts manual has it as a "gasket". You can see the new one next to the old one. The old one is still fine.
Next item is the gasket that fits between the Heat Exchanger and the Combustion Air Fan. If you remember I was real careful when separating the two parts so I could reuse the gasket. You can see the new one next to the old one. I'll be reusing the old one.
So out of the three gaskets I bought this is the only one actually needed to repair the heater. It wouldn't be as bad if I could just order the single gasket but I've only ever found them for sale as a set of three. $37 for the one gasket I need is pretty steep.
I don't know diddly about gaskets but bet I can find a better deal. Did some reading and settled on
Mr. Gasket 5961 Ultra Seal Exhaust Gasket Material. Currently $17.44 for a 24" x 6" sheet at Amazon.
The new gasket material contains a steel core so making accurate cuts will be a challenge.
It took some experimenting but here's the method I settled on for making new gaskets.
Trace out the gasket. Then using aviation snips cut out a square with the traced out gasket in the center.
Take my Dremel-like rotary tool and put it in the bench vise. It's not a actual Dremel but I'm going to call it that. Tighten the vise just enough to hold the Dremel upright but not damage it.
Here's the bit I'm using. When I bought the Dremel it came with an assortment of different bits but they aren't all labeled. I'll just call it a cutting bit.
Using the Dremel like a router, cut along the inside line of the gasket tracing.
Cut while rotating the gasket material in the clockwise direction. I didn't have a deck, like with a regular router, to hold the material as I cut it so took my time.
It's at this point that Bob, who had been supervising the job, started giving me lip. She began telling me I was just making a ragged mess. She wanted me to hand it over because she could do better job with her claws than I was doing with all my tools.
I told her to hold her horses and let me get on with it. Took some fine sandpaper and dressed up the inside edges.
Use the aviation snips to trim along the outside traced line.
To make the holes in the gasket first drill a little larger hole in a scrap wood piece. Draw on the crosshairs.
The crosshairs help line up the drawn circle over the hole. Drill through the gasket material.
After drilling look closely to see if any of the metal core is sticking out through the hole.
A little work with a round file will clean it up.
Finished product.
Once I got the hang of it I found I could crank them out fairly quickly. I could probably get 6 gaskets out of this one sheet of material which brings their price down to $3 each.
Before any one asks, I have reassembled the heater and ran it several hours using the new do-it-yourself gasket. It runs just fine.
There is a difference in the thickness of the DIY gasket when compared to the original. This will necessitate an minor adjustment during the reassembly of the heater but I'll cover that in the next posting.
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