Thanks for the kind word Lonnie.
Im a little skeptical on the insulation myself, though there didnt seem to be any rust around the general area. Whatever adhesive was used originally was pretty tar like and covered a good area on either side of the insulation.
You said you had rebuilt yours without it, have you had any problems with leaks or vibration etc? Thinkin i might just scratch that whole step...
As to the gasket i have half of my original one, and after a pretty exhaustive search through parts sites yesterday im thinking a homemade one is in order, its pretty much just a rectangle with a little lip around the outside edge so it shouldnt be too hard to fab up. Ill post some pics when im done.
Chooglin
