Thread sealant? for intake

[Knotthed]

I'm looking for a proven thread sealant for Indian Chief intake nipples.

What are your recommendations?

Thanks in advance,

[T. Cotten]

Knotthead!

That is a very good question indeed.

The Wigwam used something, but we have no way to identify it. It has been suggested that it was "white lead". (Photo of NOS cylinder attached)

The two modern alternative have their pros and cons.
"Seal-Lock" has its virtues for bonding upon a molecular level, however it is not a structural adhesive that would benefit damaged threads.
"JB-Weld" fills voids much better, but it may be subject to modern fuels, such as Shell's new "nitrogenated" formula which quickly lifted it my testing.
(Bottom left in second attachment; Testing is performed upon etched glass.)

H-D relied entirely upon a mechanical seal, and it may be the only permanent fix in light of the digestivity problem.

Every Memorial Day, I sample the year's Shell summer blend for testing, as it is the locally available premium in my MidWestern backwater town. I regret that I have no access to Florida's BP, as it is anecdotally the most digestive in the Nation.
Both sealers shall be tested again, and other products that I rely upon as well. Seal-Lock, however shall have to be tested upon etched bare steel. I was dismayed to find that two sheets pressed together and cured overnight popped apart from the springyness of the steel alone.)

We all need Good Luck.

....Cotten

[Knotthed]

Cotten,

What are your thoughts on a rudementary plumbing application using a plumbing product?
Whitlam's Ready-Made Pipe Thread Sealant

J. C. Whitlam II was the first to formulate and market a ready-to-use thread sealant in 1900. While working for a paint manufacturer in the late 1890s, Whitlam watched plumbers buy red or white lead pigments and linseed oil to mix together and use as a paste thread sealant. Whitlam began experimenting in his kitchen on a nonpoisonous, ready-made product. By 1900 he had perfected a gray paste he called Tyte-Unyte that did the job better, at less cost and was safe to use. Whitlam set up a small manufacturing facility in Cleveland, but demand soon exceeded his production capabilities. In 1912 he moved to Wadsworth, Ohio, and built a factory to market Tyte-Unyte throughout the world.

Take a look at their product called "Select-Unyte":

http://www.jcwhitlam.com/plumb/produ...e=Select-Unyte

Soft-set, white, all-purpose PTFE paste thread sealing compound. For use on plastic and metal threaded systems carrying air, steam, petroleum, water, gases and many chemicals. Meets Federal Specification TT-S-1732.

Do you think this will work? The company certainly was in business during the same time and MOCO

I haven't put my new nipples in yet and I was working on my shower the other day and read the tube of TFE thread sealant from harvey's - which looked to have some merit - so I started digging and came up with the info on Whitlam's history.

Let me know what you think. Post sealing they will be subject to nickel plating - would that interfere?

Thanks in advance,

[gary.h]

just wondering how pipe sealent would hold up to the heat transfer from the engine to the intake nipples,its gonna be way hotter than an average hot water pipe,
i tried permatex ultra copper high heat sealent on the intake threads on my 45" i would of perfered a good mechanical seal,but at the time i had to make do,gave it an air pressure,soap bubble test and it seemed ok...

[tomfiii]

you can take a look at GASOILA ,they have several different products

[Knotthed]

Hey this looks good on paper. Is 600F a high enough temperature range?

Gasoila® E-Seal Thread Sealant
Soft-Set with PTFE

•Non-hardening, non-toxic, opaque, dark green paste designed specifically for ethanol blended gasoline including E10 and E85 (for 100% ethanol or 100% methanol applications - use Gasoila 100).
•Provides a positive seal on pipe threads, joints, fittings, hoses, nozzles, pump assemblies, oil burners, hydraulics, bolts, compressors, engines, motors, fuel lines and couplings.
•For use on brass, copper, stainless steel, aluminum, black pipe, tin and galvanized pipe.
•Excellent resistance to gasoline, ethanol blended gasoline such as E10 and E85, petroleum solvents, kerosene diesel oil, BioDiesel propane, butane, LPG, cutting oils, ammonia, aliphatic solvents, acids and steam.
•NOT for use on oxygen.
•Temperature Range: -100ºF to 600ºF (-74ºC to 318ºC).
•Pressure Range: Up to 10,000 psi when sealing liquids and up to 3,000 psi with gases.
•UL Classified.
•For use on NPT Threads.

[pete reeves]

I can’t tell you what effect that the latest aggressive fuels will have, but I have used a white PTFE jointing paste made by locktite on inlet nipples and even distorted intake manifolds for years with great success. It’s easy to clean off from the surrounding areas when you first use it, and it will not set very hard so you will not have trouble when you want to dismantle the joint. It appears to have been designed for applications that far exceed any temperature / pressures and vacuum you are likely to encounter on an air cooled motor inlet system.

Pete reeves. 860

[Jerry Wieland]

Loctite 567 - hi pressure/ hi temperature pipe thread sealer. Done it a few times over the years and still holding. Jerry

[T. Cotten]

Knotthed and All,

Sorry to get back to this so late,

I cannot pass judgement on anything I have not tested in fuel;
Regular old Gasoila failed quickly, but I never looked for new formulas.
Green Loctite failed, so I didn't bother with other varieties of it either.

And my local fuel is no longer the most digestive around:
Last season's Pacific Northwest fuels managed to swell not only my obsolete-formula production of floats, but modern competitors' as well.

Its about the gas, not the sealer.
You never know what will come out of the next pump, next summer.

....Cotten

[23JDCA 808]

And my local fuel is no longer the most digestive around:
Last season's Pacific Northwest fuels managed to swell not only my obsolete-formula production of floats, but modern competitors' as well.
....Cotten

Great; another excuse to not assemble my 1923 JD.

[T. Cotten]

Bill!

Your HX181 has the latest Nitrophyl M compound of float material, available only since the summer of '08.
Not only will it be replaced free of charge if it should swell, it shall be replaced with the next generation of material whenever it is produced.

My modern competitors are compelled to use obsolete materials because of enormous royalties for the rights to mold the M material.
Thus, my DURABLEs are machined by my own hand.

Please get it into duty as soon as possible, and let us know of any problems at all!

....Cotten

[23JDCA 808]

(I was trying to be funny) I need to man-up and assemble this bike. Doc Schuster is also suggesting I get my stuff together.

[Knotthed]

Thanks all for the input.

Tomfiii and Pete, I am going to order some Gasoila E-Seal plumbing thread sealant for ethanol based fuels and use it. I was previously going to use a permatex product that required a surface prep spray. I like the simplicity of the plumbers type thread seal.

I think I have been overly worried about this task. I have never done this before and It was suggested that this task to be very difficult and so far it has been easy except for picking a sealant. I do have some concerns over the rivetting yet, but not as bad as the heartache over the sealant.

Cotten, you are absolutely correct it is about the gas, I was not thinking about it from that point of view! So whatever the latest and greatest product that BP,Shell, and whomever else are recommending for their threaded connections would likely have the best chance at this point.

Any members work for BP or Shell?

Thanks all!

[T. Cotten]

So whatever the latest and greatest product that BP,Shell, and whomever else are recommending for their threaded connections would likely have the best chance at this point.

Any members work for BP or Shell?

Knotthed!

Sadly for us all, there are a few gliches in that logic.
Shell was reported as a probable culprit in the Pacific Northwest, yet it's "Nitrogenated" formula here in Illinois was gentler than previous years. So even brands vary within themselves.

Perhaps a combination of brands in one's tank is more potent than any one alone, just as fuels containing ethanol are far more digestive than ethanol by itself.

And the most feared spectre of all is illegal dumping of solvents into local fuel supplies, as there is no monitoring at all.

The fact that recent digestivity focused in the Pacific Northwest would be a tremendous break in the case, if only we had someone with a gas chromatograph, or HPLC, and a list of possible culprits, and samples of such for standards.
Finding a GC or HPLC would be relatively easy, but the rest is near impossible.

Even the fabled Federally-mandated IVD (Intake Deposit Additive) is mysteriously un-named, much less the myriad of proprietary additives.

If tetra-ethyl lead was bad for the public health, what effect can these toxics used in enormous volumes have upon our lungs, kidneys, and kids?

Can we expect a Shell or BP employee to volunteer any information at all?

....Cotten