Are these exhaust gaskets reusable?

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by RETed

This might seal initially, but I think it's going to fail prematurely down the road...
This might be worth replacing at this point if you don't want to deal with it within a few months to about a year.

The problem with this kinda damage is that the metal gets work hardened and will never go back to it's original (or preferred) shape.
Since torque specs are not excessively high - I believe it's only like 30 lb-ft or close to that? - I doubt the fastener torque is enough to flatten it out totally.
It'll be a different story if you're able to re-anneal the metal, but I doubt that's possible in this case.

The problem with exhaust gas sealing gaskets is that if you give the exhaust gases just a tiny alternate path to escape, it will and will cause a bigger gap the more you run it.
The gasket needs to have a perfect seal before running it with any miles or else it'll fail prematurely.


-Ted

What you said about once exhaust finds an alternative path and causing a bigger gap makes perfect sense. What do you think about pressing the gasket before I put it back on? Do you think putting higher pressure/torque on the gasket to "even out" the damage would work? Or is that going to simply exasperate the problems and accelerate the deterioration?

Originally Posted by FerociousP

you are right. I priced mine through pineapple and they are close to $200 after shipping. I bought the manifold and turbo gaskets through them, and reusing the DP gasket. If it leaks, at least it will be much easier to change than the other two and you have the chance to save some $$

That's what I'm thinking, put it on for now and defer some costs for later. Doing this rebuild in this economy is already bleeding me pretty dry. It's only $70, but nickle and dime stuff is killing me. Hell, putting that in perspective. If I save that much now that's 1/3 the cost difference between Atkins apex seals and OEM. I can always slap new gasket on later, cant' exactly do that with apex seals.