I've been cleaning the sump and internal oil filter of my petrol H-van, as it doesn't have an external oil filter.

I've bought a new set of gaskets: they are made of cork. I don't expect much trouble with the flat gaskets for the sides of the sump, but at both ends the sump has a (near) semi-circle cut out to accommodate the main bearings, and these use two semi-circular cork gaskets.

I am fairly sure that the gaskets are a bit wider than the groove that they fit into, and the groove has a rounded profile at the bottom, so it tends to push out a gasket that is cut from square cork sheet. Past experience suggests that you need to get the curved gaskets in place, and then put the sump up onto them, quite quickly before they the gaskets fall out.

Is there a way of softening a cork gasket to make it a better fit into the grooves in the bottom of the block?

I maybe should have added that the block has a recess for the gasket, while the sump has a partly raised section there: so you can't put the gasket into the sump while fitting it, only into the groove in the block. Possibly this makes it easy to fit with the engine dismounted and upside down....

I use evo stik type glue to hold rocker gasgets on 2cv rocker covers, whilst assembling etc

and found it works really well

Thanks Pony.
The semi-circular gaskets get compressed into a "U" shaped channel when the sump bolts are tightened, so it's probably best to avoid a glue that sets completely to hold them in plave temporarily. I can see that evostik will work well on a 2CV rocker cover.

An interesting Google search - one that took me to a lot of old US vehicles (Model T Fords and wartime jeeps) which use cork gaskets - suggested that cork gaskets had to be soaked in water if they were old. They dried out and shrank.

These gaskets are new so I think I'll just use a spot of Hylomar blue to ensure a good seal.

yep i agree , but evo stik has some flex in it and will give a bit on fitting
it does not cure hard.

we also used evo stik to fit gasgets on Visa 1130 rocker covers which were complete bastards to get to, as you had to do it blind! because it was hidden behind the head next to the bulk head, never had any leaking issues

Something of a red letter day today. The engine is no longer leaking oil anywhere.

In the end I used hylomar in the semi-circular cork gasket channels, and also on only one side of the main (flat) sump gaskets, to glue them to the sump but to allow them to come off the block when the sump needs to be removed. It's not very like 2CV rocker covers (one bolt) - the sump on these 4-cylinder Traction-derived engines is held on by 14 bolts.

I think progressively tightening the bolts helped: warming up the engine, then re-tightening very gradually. There appears to be a choice between a thin paper gasket for the flat sides of the sump, and a thicker cork one. My own recommendation would be the cork one, as it takes up the minor irregularities better. The semi-circular cork gasket was a lot easier to fit than the modern rubber replacement, too.

It's nice to have got rid of the oil leaks I've had for the last 15 years. The leaks may well have been caused by the old cork gaskets drying out and shrinking as the van was not used for a good ten years before I bought it. I should now have a clean underside for the Toruń World Meeting in July. All it has to do now is get us there......

well done see you in Poland
hylomar sounds a good choice.

This engine is similar to the Traction Engine?

I had cork main sump gasket with lots of Blue seal but the semi rounds were a rubber compound, again covered in Blue. I did have to take it all off to adjust the oil pump and there is a tiny leak now. I will redo it again when I replace the water pump pressure valve in the autumn.

But the other way round, of course - ie with the gearbox at the back, so the motor turns in the opposite direction.

Yes, the bottom end at least is much the same as the Traction 11CV. The original H-vans had a 1911cc engine - presumably much the same as the 1911cc Traction one, and a later version of the 1911cc engine continued in the HY78 versions. The HY72 version was a smaller engine at 1628 cc, but still delivering 45hp at 4200 rpm, it says here.

The 72 and 78 refer to the bore in mm: the stroke was 100mm. If you do the arithmetic (pi times half the bore squared, times the stroke, times four) you'll get those two engine capacities.

I found I had to trim the flat cork gaskets (these ones from Der Franzose, incidentally) just a little at the ends, though the semicircular ones fitted nicely: one slightly larger than the other. The small one is the one that takes the thin metal shim to accomodate the cut-outs for the main bearing cap bolts.

I found it a lot easier to put the cork semi-circular gaskets in than the rubber ones. The rubber ones had a tendency to push themselves out of their grooves just as you were getting the sump in place: the cork ones stayed put.