Gearbox Cover Gasket

[Malsprint]

Is it possible to purchase a new gasket for the gearbox cover. (The large sheet metal cover that is removed from inside the car).
If so where from. If not, has anybody had success in making a replacement.

Thanks
Mal

[Manta]

I bought a strip of rubber, and using a little heat shaped it around the curves, I cut the ends at the sharp angles and used superglue to join them, when fitting I used windscreen non setting sealer to ensure it sealed correctly, car hasn’t seen any rain yet but I think it will be watertight.

[Malsprint]

Thanks Manta

How thick was the rubber you used. The original gasket looks like it maybe 5mm thick. Its hard to tell since it has deteriorated so badly.

Thanks

[Macleesh]

Is it actually a gasket, I assumed it was some form of mastic.

[Carledo]

Is it actually a gasket, I assumed it was some form of mastic.

In original form, it really is a rubber "gasket" for want of a better word. It has a roughly dumb bell shaped profile and is secured to the tunnel housing with plastic clips imbedded in it, about a dozen of them.

But it does suffer badly from time and doesn't deal well with removal, let alone repeated removals. It's also pretty difficult to get the tunnel back in properly with it fitted, so lazy mechanics had a nasty habit of binning them to make their lives easier!

So it's quite common for folk to look at alternatives and i've seen many solutions tried, IMO a good bead of something similar to the NLA product "Sealastic" is favourite. Or non setting screen sealant. I had one really good salvaged one that I used only a few weeks ago, and have one more that's not quite as good but still in 1 piece, they ARE about, but pretty rare in re-usable condition.

The good news is that ALL Dolomite shaped cars have the exact same size and shape of hole it fits, so one from any model will fit all Dolomites. Look for a dead 1500 Auto as the tunnels are seldom removed from automatic cars and trans failure will kill a 1500 auto (until quite recently at least) as not worth repairing.

Steve

[Macleesh]

Interesting, had mine since 19000 miles, one previous owner, pretty sure there is no gasket so sounds like it had clutch or gearbox work early on. I have done the clutch, but from below so didn't touch the cover.
Will have a closer look at the weekend.