Deleting Cylinder Gaskets

[jakersmcbakers]

I have heard people say that they are deleting cylinder gaskets on their saws to up the compression and get better performance. I imagine they are using some kind of liquid gasket instead? Could someone please educate me on whether this is a good practice or not?

If this is covered in a different thread, my apologies. If someone can link that thread, I can just go read that instead of re-hashing everything here again.

Thanks!

[edju1958]

I'm not exactly an expert on this topic,but I'd like to add what I know & throw in my 2 cents as well.I have heard of guys doing the silicone gasket thing instead of using a paper or composite gasket to get more compression,but I think it takes a lot of investigation or at least should take a lot of investigation because there is a possibility that the piston can get hung up on the skirting due to lack of clearance (someone correct me if I'm wrong,or totally off the mark here).The thing is how much are you going to gain by eliminating the gasket?A few lbs.of compression at most?Don't expect a SEZ to do the same as a 1050.If you want a more powerful saw,go up to the next model.I read about guys porting their saws & tweaking this & tweaking that & they get great performance,but what is the long term effect?I'd like to see that same saw in 20-30 yrs.down the stretch & see if they're even still running.There are saws out there that didn't use gaskets on the cylinders at all,but they were designed that way.Just my humble opinion.

[tangobravo]

I couldn't imagine that any power increase could be significant from any small change in the compression chamber. Think you would do better with reliable performance by having that gasket in place. It doesn't supercharge the engine!

[xl130]

You may find this interesting.

youtu.be/H9gk2Lt_4d8

[lesorubcheek]

The little bit I remember from reading posts on AS was that a gasket delete alone wasn't necessarily a good thing for increased power because of the change in port timing. Gasket removal is essentially moving the cylinder down which means the intake is closing earlier and the exhaust is opening later, both a bad thing for performance. Those who port saws will set the squish, which usually means removing the gasket, or at least reducing thickness, and then using a degree wheel, grind the ports to the numbers for the desired performance. I've tried and tried to understand the magic of port timing, but so much of it is hush hush, and it seems that different saws respond differently. And that's really the point, the saw you're working with may respond wonderfully by just doing a gasket delete, but it's not a universal thing.

Dan

[jasonrkba]

Not a fan of gasket delete.

[jakersmcbakers]

Thanks guys!