Hi Dave. When you have a young mind in an ageing body, you always expect more than you should.
I remind myself that if I had an elderly car and I wanted it to last, I would treat it with consideration. Why do we, who are supposed to be thinking animals, so consistently fail to heed our own advice.
So– go carefully, we need folks like you around for years yet!
As regards silicone. It does work. I even fit my heads with a four thou thick shim steel ring x 1/4 radial depth round the bores after I have smeared all round with silicone. Then nip down and allow to set. Then pull down. You could actually cut rings out of aluminium coke cans!
As regards water domes, then I hav’nt used these for a bit and I should add that silicone is ok where you only have a small gap. So with the water dome, you might use an O ring round the ferrule of a size that gives about a 25 thou gap before nipping down, then smear round other areas with silicone, then nip down lightly, wipe off excess sealent squeezed out, leave 24 hours, then pull down tighter.
The beauty of using silicone like this, is that after you have lweft it for 24 hrs lightly nipped, you have a cured gasket that is exactly the correct thickness. If the faces are not flat, it does’nt matter.
Kindest Regards
Roger
