Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

When fitting new gaskets to the top cover and gearstick housing should you use red Hermitite, grease or nothing at all?

William2 wrote:When fitting new gaskets to the top cover and gearstick housing should you use red Hermitite, grease or nothing at all?

Well I only use grease on the top gasket but that aside you would have a problem finding "red Hermitite" as I do not believe it is made any more, it was bought out by Hylomar and re-branded.
Here is the current version http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271062980585? ... 1438.l2649
No connection to me but I use it and prefer it to other gasket sealants.

"Red Hermitite" is a new one to me. It's probably old, but I've never heard of it on this side of the pond. Would someone please give me a little song & dance about it? How does it compare to Hylomar Universal Blue? If Hylomar Corp bought it up, it can't be too bad. I'm curious.

Regards,
Tim Engel
Lotus Owners Oftha North (LOON)

Tim,
I cant give you its composition or properties but it was the gasket sealer of choice in the UK for many years, I used it in the early 60?s as an apprentice but it pre-dates that and probably goes back to the 40?s.
It is a red non hard setting sealant and I believed it was formulated for cylinder head gaskets and general automotive use, I now use the the Hyomar replacement.
Here is a link that confirms it was withdrawn, I thought it had been bought out by Hylomar but I may well be wrong in that conclusion and they only made a replacement for it.
http://www.hylomar.co.uk/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=18

Types 26/36 wrote: It is a red non hard setting sealant.

That is not how I remember it Brian. It was supplied in a lead type, or certainly metal tube, and it definately went hard. If you remember all those diffs I built a while back, many of them still had bits of the old red hermatite sealant that was used as a sealant between the iron diff casing and the Lotus ali housing. It was hard and britle, and difficult to remove.

And believe it or not, I am sure I still have a tube of the old stuff in the workshop somewhere. If I can find it, I shall take a pic and post.

Leslie

Leslie,
When I said non hard setting I should have said "semi hard setting" as it still remained reasonable soft, you will see it is described as "semi hardening" so we may have to disagree as to exact difference between Hard and Soft
Also I found some on ebay ......maybe old stock?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-Herm ... 0643055501

Here you go Tim, a pdf with its properties:
http://www.hammerite-automotive.com/her ... gasket.pdf

Thanks for the info, everyone.

Regards,
Tim Engel
Lotus Owners Oftha North (LOON)

Hi Tim,
Not your question I know but don't forget to apply sealer to those extension housing and bellhousing bolts threads which protrude into the gearcase.

Esprit 2 wrote; "Red Hermitite" is a new one to me. It's probably old. Yes, like me Tim.

Brian. I am sure we shall not disagree over the terms soft, semi hard and hard, so long as you agree with me

I have found the tube of red hermetite I was hoping I still had, see pic, and I am also sure, that what is in the tube that I have, is nothing like the product sold today. This stuff goes hard. Fin. The manufacturer has obviously altered the product from what it was over 30 years ago, as that is the age of my tube, to how it is now.

What do you mean, don't I ever throw anything away? Of course not, I thought it might come in handy in a discussion in the future.

I shall be carring out demonstrations of the two products at Donington!

Leslie