Now here is a very old product, shown here in an ancient bottle from when nothing seemed the matter with using “Chief Permatex” as a spokesman, that is still readily available: Indian Head gasket shellac. Generally, whoever newly discovers Indian Head gasket shellac uses it for its putative purpose as a gasket dressing only until the first time a gasket joint previously thus doped needs to be disassembled—usually quite awhile and thousands of miles and hundreds of Fahrenheit degrees later. Then you’re hosed, brother; the shellac has been thoroughly baked into an almost unbreakable solid. The disassembly and cleanup experience tends to be lengthy, injurious, and costly, and takes place in the realm bounded by frustration and futility: begone, puny gasket scraper, you have no power here.
Of course one immediately stops using Indian Head gasket shellac on gaskets, but the cessation’s effect is greatly retarded by all the many applications made between the time the first junction was shellacked into sealing and the time that first attempted disassembly learned you but good. (There are many other fine gasket gunkums that can be used where indicated without creating time-release hell for oneself or other tinkers or mechanics down the line, of course, but they are outside the scope of today’s symposium.)
There is a proper and perfect application for the hundred-and-ten-year-old formula that is Indian Head gasket shellac, though, and it is pharmaceutical. Every nigh and then, in the middle of repairing whatever you’re repairing, sometimes you lose your mojo. Your focus goes fuzzy; you start to get sidetracked and your mind wanders. Or you lose your cool, get angry and frustrated, and that’s when parts and tools and knuckles are about to break. But you keep a bottle of Indian Head on the garage shelf—upright always, else the lid gets shellacked shut—and at times like those you drop the wrench (gear puller, magnet-on-a-stick, whatever), take down the bottle of Indian Head gasket shellac, open it, take a little whiff, close it and put it up, and proceed on your repair with renewed concentration and back in the right headpsace.
It’s not that Indian Head gasket shellac contains any particularly potent aromatics or other chemicals that get you high, low, or sideways; the bottle contains nought but rosin suspended in ethanol, propanol, and methanol. It’s that nothing else—but nothing else—smells like Indian Head gasket shellac. It smells of carburetors rebuilt and carburettors (mind you) exorcised. It smells of tappet clearances adjusted, slack timing chains renewed and their covers sealed to a fare-thee-well, manifolds exchanged and oil pump pressure relief valves lapped and reset. It smells of moribund lawnmowers yanked back from the brink by their starter ropes. It smells of tractors’ wounds salved. It smells of cantankerous plumbing compression fittings made to quit dripping. All in all, it smells of the victory, however fleeting, of tenacity over entropy.
It is, you see, for when your head gasket leaks.
Ha, a brilliant exposition on an ancient automotive product. It has been my good fortune to never have to disassemble that on which I have used Indian Head while assembling. And it has been awhile, so I have kind of forgotten the smell. But it is surely a smell that has only good memories attached, seeing as how it was always used as a job was being successfully finished. This would make Liquid Wrench the stuff that is depressing to smell. 🙂
My car-mentor Howard swore by the stuff. He also taught me about Wesleys Bleech White for whitewall tires and Wesley’s Wax to bring a shine back to old enamel paint finishes.
Next you need to address that famous old compound that is good for either everything or nothing, depending on who you ask: Marvel Mystery Oil.
You know, I think you’re right about Liquid Wrench. Usually one only smells that swill when a job is at high risk of going badly—or already has. I’ll add penetrants to the list of CC Toolbox pieces to write. Marvel Mystery Oil will also get its due; it deserves it if for no other reason than the fabulous packaging.
Well said about Liquid Wrench. When it comes to sniffing solvents, I’m more of a WD-40 man myself, but when the going gets tough, Liquid Wrench is where it’s at…that and a torch…and maybe a welder to weld a nut to the stub of a bolt you just broke off…
PB Blaster smells like sadness and shame.
I’ve switched to a home brew of ATF and acetone. Smells great and works better than foul smelling Liquid Wrench.
What a great write up. I am a fan of Permatex Aviation sealer; it too, is a pain to remove after it gets baked on. As far as Marvel Mystery Oil goes, I am in the good for nothing camp. Kerosene or diesel fuel works just as well.
Thank you kindly, suzulight!
I use Marvel Mystery Oil to lubricate air tools. One air tool from an American company came with a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil. Years ago, I took flying lessons at a small airport. The owner of the rental aircraft bought Marvel Mystery Oil in 5-gallon cans, and added it to tbe crankcase oil of valuable aircraft engines. He was an A & P mechanic, and those plane engines are unbelievably expensive to overhaul. Did he know something? Indeed.
Old style can.
Shellac sets hard so really its useless, what ever you smear on gaskets has to be non setting so said item can be disassembled at a future time without having to replace the gasket, Hylomar blue is the Rolls Royce of gasket compounds.
Yes, Hylomar is great stuff. There is such a thing as a reusable gasket, and occasionally one gets in a bind where it’s necessary to reuse a non-reusable gasket and hope for the best, but gasket dressing is not meant to make a gasket reusable.
Times two on the Permatex 3 aviation sealer. It comes off with brake cleaner most of the time for me, because it never really dries. Basically, I’ll use it on just about any gasket surface that I’m not quite sure of, even threads sometimes.
If I can’t find a gasket or I don’t want to wait for one to come in, RTV is OK. I just used it on the ’65 Skylark’s rear axle cover when I realized the one Rock Auto sent me was wrong. Of course, scraping that is no picnic either.
One thing I won’t use as a sealer ever again is 3M weatherstrip adhesive, or gorilla snot as it’s affectionately nicknamed. I feel like that’s the more modern version of Indian Head Shellac: it works, but it’s forever!
Oof, yeah, I would not use weatherstrip adhesive as a gasket sealer. I have a dysfunctional relationship with RTV; some days are sublime and others are stormy. That’ll get its own writeup, by and by.
I once had an associate who was a fly by night auto mechanic. He picked up a used Fiat 124 spyder with a broken oil pump. The casting of the pump goes down into the oil pan with the pick up tube and screen. The casting broke in half. This guy used 3m “Gorilla Snot” yeller glue to glue it back together and get the car running. He drove that car for at least a year like that. I lost track of him but no doubt that that oil pump is still held together 30 years later.
Yup. When I rebuild a marine stern drive, I coat all the hardware liberally with the aviation sealer. It prevents corrosion between the stainless steel hardware and the aluminum alloy case, and also between the aluminum housings themselves. Never really hardens unless exposed to fairly high temps, and makes future disassembly rather easy. And I will add, today’s RTV is really good. I like Permatex Ultra Gray
I think RTV merits its own writeup. I’ll add it to the list.
Permeated Ultra Grey for the win!!!
Indian Head Gasket Shellac has a non-automotive use, too. When restoring old record changers for which the rubber drive wheels have become slippery and are no longer available, a slippery one can be restored for light-duty use by chucking it in an electric drill and sanding the surface as it is rotated, to remove rough or flat spots. Then I rub the Indian Head Gasket Shellac into the newly-renewed rubber surface. The rosin, carried by the solvents, penetrates into the pores of the rubber and provides some grip to the wheel, more so than the plain rubber which has probably oxidized over the decades so it got slippery.
Revulcanizing new rubber is always a possibility, but some people don’t want to spend the money; and it is also possible to grind down the wheel some more and glue a rubber belt of proper size to it, providing a new rubber surface. But for occasional use the Indian Head Gasket Shellac works well; better, in fact, than commercial rosin/solvent preparations intended for the purpose. I think it’s because the Gasket Shellac uses several different solvents, making it penetrate better.
Hey, now that’s really interesting. Such an application wouldn’t’ve occurred to me, but I’m going to file it away—it’s the kind of tidbit that I can foresee coming in useful someday.
Say, d’you know anyone in North America who could fix problems with a Telefunken 6001 combination FM/AM/turntable?
The best stuff for hardened rubber belts and rollers is oil of wintergreen. Smells like the Wrigley’s factory but really softens up old rubber so it has a strong grip.
Based on ancient native american head gasket repairing traditions, I assume?
If not for the logo on the bottle, we’d have a real poser on our hands: is it Indian-brand head gasket shellac, or is it Indian Head-brand gasket shellac?
Guess here’s as good a place as any to mention that in prepping for this writeup I found a Chinese knockoff: Head (brand) gasket shellac in a very similar brown bottle with white print.
“Indian Head”? Just try to use that name in today`s politically correct world.
Er…click the links; this is a current-production product readily available through mainstream channels. The name is in use right now, today, in this world.
Also, there’s a difference between being “politically correct” (a buzzphrase primarily used as a red button to shut down conversation on uncomfortable topics) and being polite (i.e., being a thoughtful grownup). It’s just plain good manners to avoid misappropriating and caricaturing another culture in just about any context, but especially to sell products.
What about a jeep cherokee?
Or a Winnebago Tioga, or the Washington Redskins, or Squaw Peak, or any of many others. Bad manners are common.
In my cabinet are two items that each feature similar caricatures. A bag of Indian Head Cornmeal, and a can of Daufuski Oysters, both bought in the last few months.
“Indian Head” is also the predecessor of the Lincoln Penny, introduced in 1909. Technically however, the face was the likeness of a “white” woman wearing a headdress. Hence, the Sacagawea Dollar was the 1st proper “Indian” coin (trivia: she was Shoshone, & married to a French-Canadian trapper).
My 2¢ worth (pun intended): Why not call them “Tribal Americans?” After all, they identify themselves with tribes, & avoids equivocation with the term “native” & also confusion with folks from India.
Or why not call them whatever they want to be called? It’s not for us to decide that for them.
I always used this on valve cover gaskets on my slant sixes. Today’s cars have the valve covers buried so deeply I haven’t got the courage or ambition.
Arrgh, why did you do that? Often over the years I’ve cursed the unknown previous owner who sealed a Slant-6 valve cover to the head in this manner. The cover has to be removed for periodic tappet clearance adjustment, so why on earth would you glue it on? To stop it leaking? That’s why the factory gasket was rubber, not cork, and rubber gaskets are still available from Fel-Pro and probably others.
I used the rubber Fel-Pro valve cover gasket on my Slant 6 and GMC V-6, both with mechanical lifters. I would attach the gasket(s) only to the valve cover with a small bead of silicone, that way there was never an issue of the gasket slipping out of place during reassembly. The gasket would last through many valve adjustments.
The Slant-6 valve cover has slots for the gasket’s tabs to hold it in place for assembly; on cramped installations that tended to knock the gasket loose despite the tabs I would tie the gasket to the valve cover with short lengths of thread or dental floss through the bolt holes. That made it a cinch to put the cover in place without the gasket being knocked askew, and the string didn’t interfere with gasket sealing (though unless I was in a hurry I tended to cut and remove it after loosely installing the bolts).
Someone must have told me it was the thing to do, and I only sealed the gasket (rubber, I was no fan of cork) to the cover. My sixes were near the end of their lives, I doubt any of the valve covers ever came off again.
And thus the sermon concludes. Amen.
Tip: Never buy rear view mirror adhesive again if you have some black RTV. The rearview mirror adhesive is junk. A dollop of black RTV the size of a pea on the mirror puck will mount the mirror for the life of the windshield. I have to attach a LCD rearview monitor on my mirror when the camper is on the truck and the RTV is the only adhesive that is strong enough to hold the additional weight of the monitor. Just don’t put the mirror on for a day while it sets up.
Have never used the Gasket Shellac Compound but back in the day we swore by another Permatex product, Form-A-Gasket #2 sealing compound. This was known by me and my contemporaries as “uckem pucky”, which sort of describes what it is like when it dries. A quick check via Google shows that Form-A-Gasket #2 (and also #1, which we didn’t use for whatever reason) are still readily available. A friend once used about a half tube of #2 to seal up his distributor after a tuneup. Of course once he realized that he had installed the distributor 180 degrees out of phase, he had to take it back apart. For a product that supposedly does not get hard, Permatex Form-A-Gasket #2 can be surprisingly hard to remove.
I remember using this stuff on my ’66 Coronet’s cork valve cover gaskets—318 poly V8. It had a very interesting smell and set up pretty quickly. It was a PIA to scrape the gaskets off when it was valve adjustment time but there were never any leaks.
One water pump (aluminum block for extra points) was enough for me. Probably still have the mostly-full bottle out there somewhere.
Now I use Three Bond TB1184 or Hylomar.
I do like shellac for wood stuff.
Try posting about your Telefunken on Audiokarma. Look THAT up in your telefunken wagnalls.
Much obliged, good suh; I’ll check on Audiokarma. And yes, thanks, I do get that “…in your Funk & Wagnalls” reference. ツ
Neat post, I am waiting for the MMO one now. I too have had the weatherstrip adhesive blues (yellows?). A cast aluminum oil pan and that stuff, one wouldn’t need hardware. Except maybe a jackhammer to remove it. My gasket gunk of choice for most porous materials is Gasgacinch. Works well and isn’t difficult to remove down the road. When RTV is needed I reach for the ultra copper. Let’s not forget the shop gift that keeps on giving, antisieze. A little bit goes a long way and look out if you happen to get some on you in an inconspicuous place as it WILL end up everywhere. Great fun when someone from another department comes over to abuse our crapper and then forgets their hat. Just a dab on the inside at the front and……..
This stuff was very similar and popular on the West Coast:
http://gasgacinch.com/
Still around, and the can looks much the same. These products were ideal for cork gaskets, but not as many applications in modern vehicles. Still has it’s place though.
Looks similar in that it’s an olde-tyme product still on the market, still in an olde-tyme-looking package.
Not very similar in composition, though—that, per the MSDS, is neoprene dissolved in toluene and aliphatic hydrocarbons. Certainly a one way of rubberising something (like a paper or cork gasket), but much(!) more toxic than rosin dissolved in alcohol.
Interesting that it is of a different composition, but has a similar application.
I had an intake leak on my ’77 Power wagon, and I tried good old Indian Head on it and it failed, so I went to some horrible stuff that was purple and had copper dust in it. It worked better than the Indian Head, but it kept leaking until I had the heads trued up and the manifold cut to match. It took 2 thick gaskets to seal it up, and I used the purple stuff to make it a one time job. If course, about a year later, I had a head gasket start seeping and had to take off the manifold again. It was torture. I finally found a huge pickle fork at the junkyard and ground the end down to make it into a huge pry bar. That purple stuff was amazingly tough stuff. It was a huge struggle even after slicing the RTV stuff I used on the ends of the manifold. In 110 degree heat, it was pretty bad to work on, even in the shade. It was one of the last repairs I made before I got rid of the truck. I don’t know why, but if I had the cash today, I would buy another one, just for grins.
It looks and sounds like an olde timey version of amyl nitrate….
»chuckle« Yes indeed. A few other of my peeps remarked similarly when I showed them this article.
Enjoy the Technical articles .
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I once used the wrong can of Permatex , maybe # 1-H ? it hardened like a rock , glad I didn’t have to take it apart again .
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These days I prefer Permatex ” The Right Stuff ” , a sealer available in tube or aerosol ,$pendy but stops those old British cars engine and axle leaks dead and isn’t difficult to remove years later .
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-Nate
Thanks for bringing back a memory of something I haven’t used in decades–but I *swear* I can imagine that smell. The reviews on Amazon pretty much parallel everything said today: http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-20539-Indian-Shellac-Compound/product-reviews/B0008KLOG6
Let’s maybe call this the “transitional” container: still in glass, with the old logo, but way-more-explicit health warnings (front and back); I’ll guess “1970”:
[Rear of same bottle]
Permatex Aviation (Spermitex) was the stuff to use for sealing VW engine case halves together. Messy, but did the job. The smell is unforgettable.
3M Super Weatherstrip Adhesive (Gorilla Snot) works great for separating roof rail seals on MK2 Jettas, lasts at least 5 years when applied properly, but you have to be really careful not to create a yellow mess.
Bosch grease (BO grease) (my tube must be 20 years old) was perfect for ignition points rubbing block, and also worked great when rebuilding motorcycle calipers when the NLA sealing O rings for the caliper halves started to leak. The rebuild kits came without them, and the motorcycle shop I bought the kits from suggested Bosch grease on the old ones, and 10 years later still leak free.
Gasgacinch was a favorite of VW mechanics back in the day. Nicer label art than Indian Head.
Great write up! Eagerly awaiting more.
Just the mention of Indian Head shellac brought the smell to memory. Once had a bottle leak into the bottom of my toolbox and harden. The language employed upon discovery just isn’t suitable for polite company. 😉
The smell of WD40 can go either way. Sometimes a squirt will get a stuck whatzit moving again. Sometimes not.
Another of my favorite toolbox smells is Kroil. (Don’t spoil it, Kroil it!) Many times for me, the application of Kroil has resulted in the sweet smell of success.
I’m firmly in the Kroil
campkamp, myself. It’ll feature prominently in a forthcoming CC Toolbox.I do not keep WD-40 on hand, and have never wished I had it.
I am a big fan of Kroil. As a 28 year marine mechanic, rust and corrosion is the norm, not the exception. (car dudes have it easy in comparison) The best penetrating oil I have ever used. More money than others, but well worth it. I have never been a fan of Gasgacinch, but Edelbrock swears by it; it is in their catalog
Certainly a distinctive odor. The one most most evocative to me, though, is Hoppe’s No. 9. The automotive connection? Driving with my dad through the cold pre-dawn darkness to our favorite small-game fields.
Ca. 1957 I had a tube of craft glue called Stick-Um Goo, with a cartoon of a native American chief on the tube. There was a plastic blade, which the mfr likened to a feather, attached to the tube.
The instructions printed on the tube said, among other things, “Squeeze-um glue from tube. Now spread-um with feather.”
Of course something like this wouldn’t fly today.
I’m glad it wouldn’t. There’s a long way to go, still, but it’s good to pause and take note that we’re making progress, as a society, towards being thoughtful adults. The irony is not lost on me of making that comment in the midst of this present flaming cesspool of a presidential election.
haha. That’s hilarious. Such thoughtful, descriptive words went into advertising back then. Those were the days my friends
Great writeup! Just what I needed to start my workday (although maybe a whiff of Indian Head Gasket Shellac would help) but I must say I’ve never encountered the stuff.
I’m a fan of Permatex High Tack. Not only does it stick the gasket to whatever you’re trying to seal, but it comes in a fetching purple color. Also you can make Jackson Pollock-esqe art because it strings between the brush and the can, then falls on your valve cover. Maybe they need to spice up the labeling on the can with a Pollock theme.
Too bad no aerosol spray version, which could be tarted up with Rothko-themed labelling. ツ
Fun article, I remember seeing it in the Permatex catalog, but my go to product has always been Hylomar. A British product originally made for Rolls Royce jet engines, it is sticky enough to hold gaskets nicely in place, but really doesn’t harden, and is oil soluble so you don’t get “silicone in the oil passage” problem.
Well written. Love the choice of words and descriptive scenarios that really bring back memories. The sights and sounds (and smells) are re-lived through your words!
P.S. I’ve always loved the smell of Indian head gasket shellac. I have no idea why. But I always have even as a teenager working on my father’s Ford. Brings back memories. LOL
Was this article written with the thesaurus?
No. The thesaurus was cut up years ago to make gaskets.
“it smells of the victory, however fleeting, of tenacity over entropy.”
Thank you for that. Excellent wordcraft. I’d like to use it in the future.
I’m known on various automotive forums for jacking-up people for coating gaskets with RTV silicone. There’s many silicone gasket-maker products, lots of brand names; lots of colors. There may be an application that’s perfectly suitable for whatever version of RTV you’re holding in your hand–but using it as a gasket dressing isn’t one of them. RTV is meant to replace a gasket, not to enhance a gasket. RTV silicone on a gasket is an invitation to having the gasket slide out-of-position either before, during, or just after the fastener-tightening process. The only legitimate use for RTV silicone when using gaskets is as a “dot” at the seam between two gaskets or a dot on the seam between a gasket and a rubber seal. Otherwise, throw the gasket in the trash, use a bead of silicone *instead* of the gasket. Permatex “The Right Stuff” is superior to any RTV silicone I’ve used. Rumor has it that “The Right Stuff” is Polyurethane, not Silicone.
Hylomar is first-class product. It’s also priced accordingly. I believe that Gasgacinch does everything that Hylomar does–secure the gasket, seal the gasket, and make for delightfully easy gasket clean-up later–for automotive applications, and at 1/10 the price of Hylomar. Hylomar may be the preferred choice for jet aircraft engines–that’s what Rolls-Royce intended it for.
I’ve used Hylomar, Gasgacinch, Copper Coat, High Tack, Permatex #2, and various other gasket sealers. They all work. I’ve got an unopened bottle of Permatex #3 (Aviation) sealer on the Chemical Cart right now. I’m happy to try various products. The last pair of steel-shim head gaskets I installed got coated with a big plastic brush-top tub of Permatex “Teflon” pipe thread sealer. Worked great. There’s a dozen perfectly-acceptable gasket dressings; but none of them are RTV Silicone. There was a time I used 3M Weatherstrip adhesive; never again on gaskets ‘n’ seals. Cleanup of weatherstrip adhesive is a disaster.
Nicknames for chemicals must be a regional thing; to me “Gorilla snot” is RTV silicone. Weatherstrip adhesive is “Yellow Death”.
For the record, Fel-Pro states that their gaskets do not require gasket sealers. I’m considering cutting back on them. It’s a hard habit to break. Gasket sealers are comfortable and reassuring; going without is like working naked.
Don’t get me started on thread sealers, thread lockers, and anti-seize. Suffice to say that I almost never install a “dry” bolt into a nut or threaded hole.
I found this thread when doing some research on the Permatex gasket Shellac Compound, no Indian Head and I have taken a few whiffs in the past 20 minutes, it has a certain something that is hard to explain but strangley satisfying.