I've been away from the project for a few days, but I worked on the water inlet housing last night... it's the piece that bolts to the top of the water pump and connects to the intake via a short hose. I tried all my nasty solvents and couldn't get all the old gasket material off. I scraped ever so carefully with a razor blade and got it down almost to the metal, and tried the solvents again. Nothing. I tried using a polishing buff in a die grinder and all that did was make the gasket remnants smooth and shiny. I haven't even started on the engine yet (it uses a gasket, not an O-ring seal).

The one thing I haven't tried yet is alcohol based solvent.

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Ken

1988 Mercedes-Benz 420SEL
1977 Corvette Coupe / 355 / T10
1970 Porsche 911 / 2.4 / 915
1998 Dodge Neon R/T 275,000 miles