[Bob Bidonde]

The slide shows what I have been doing with success for many years. You need to understand the bending stress situation on the casting's lugs. Using a stock thick gasket produces a tension stress field (downward bending) that cracks the lugs. The use of matches under the lugs with a stock (thick) gasket reverses the bending stress so the the lugs see compression in lieu of tension. However, the best solution to avoid cracking the lugs is to eliminate the bending stress by assuring the faying surfaces are flat and the gasket is paper thin.