Tech Tip: DIY Gasket - Garage - Universal Tech

How to Make your Own Gasket.

By Gary Narusawa, Photography by Robbie Perez

Making your own gasket was a common practice back in the day, but it’s a DIY skill that is slowly dying off. With that said, this is still a trick that you should know because as a car builder, eventually you will run into a situation where this option could really save your butt. In the case of our K-swapped Integra, we had fabbed-up a block-off plate for some extra ports on the throttle body and needed a gasket to create an air-tight seal. Knowing that nobody makes such an animal, we headed to our local parts store to get a roll of gasket material. On the way back, we also stopped off at Michael’s, to pick up a special tool. The skill we are about to show you is pretty much a no-brainer. Any idiot with a pair of scissors can pull it off (no offense Yamz) but choosing the right tools for the job can make the difference between a good result and a poor one. The other part that takes a brain is knowing when to apply this practice. For instance, building your own head gasket is probably not a good idea. Don’t forget to use a little common sense.

01 Here’s our aluminum block-off plate that we created. But in order to seal the two holes on the throttle body, we needed a custom gasket.

01 Here’s our aluminum block-off plate that we created. But in order to seal the two hole
02 There are various types of gasket material available, but finding a decent selection on the shelf can be difficult. Like we mentioned in the intro, this is a slowly dying practice. What we found was this rubber-fiber material sold in a 26” x 10” roll. Although our application is not listed on the label, this stuff should be suitable for the job.

02 There are various types of gasket material available, but finding a decent selection o
03 Sizing the gasket is a matter of tracing around the outer perimeter. If you have any holes to deal with, you will need to trace those out as well.

03 Sizing the gasket is a matter of tracing around the outer perimeter. If you have any h

04 If you have a simple design like ours, you can get away with cutting the shape with pair of scissors. For more intricate patterns, an X-ACTO knife would be a better choice.

04 If you have a simple design like ours, you can get away with cutting the shape with pa
05 Getting a good fitment is important not only for performance but also for a professional appearance.

05 Getting a good fitment is important not only for performance but also for a profession
05 Here’s Yamz going back to do some minor trimming.

06 We’ve tried drilling and manually cutting holes but after trying a leather rotary punch, we’ve never looked back. We sourced ours from Michael’s, but most arts and crafts stores should carry them.

06 We’ve tried drilling and manually cutting holes but after trying a leather rotary punc
07 The rotary wheel on the leather punch has a series of different tips.
07 The points are hollow and serve as a cutting blade.

08 Using a leather punch is as simple as operating a paper punch. Check out how clean of a hole you can make with this tool.

08 Using a leather punch is as simple as operating a paper punch. Check out how clean of
08 The only drawback is that most rotary punches are limited to cutting small diameter holes.

08 The only drawback is that most rotary punches are limited to cutting small diameter ho
09 We’ll end this article by bolting down the block-off plate using our custom gasket. Happy wrenching!

09 We’ll end this article by bolting down the block-off plate using our custom gasket. Ha