Does anyone know of a solvent that will make removing gasket material easier? I am in the middle of replacing my water pump and it's pretty difficult to work in there. Thanks!

The only thing I would use is a razor blade. I know it is a pain in the ass to get in there safely but it is the best way to make sure you have a perfectly flat surface. Plus....I don't know how many times it has been changed over the years and what type of gasket material/sealer they used.

Good point.. I just didn't know if there was a "magic wand" that I could wave and make it disappear.. hahahahahaha - not many of those with Fiero stuff I'm learning. Thanks a bunch!

At the NAPA we have around here, they have gasket remover spray. It's pretty hardcore stuff - it instantly dissolves carbon and burns like hell if you get it anywhere but on your hands. BUT it does make it alot easier to scrape the old gaskety crap off (sorry, you will still have to scrape).

Gasket remover should be available at most parts stores.

Don't get sloppy with it. It will eat plenty of things besides gaskets.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top of every forum page...)

Permatex makes a really good gasket removal spray. Still have to scrape of course. I bought some to take a rock hard gasket (broke like a piece of glass when bent, almost like it was a graphite gasket) off of a throttle body on a 92 eclipse (almost like someone cemented it on) and it worked better than I expected. took me a whole 5 minutes to take the gasket off after using the spray, compared to the 20 minutes spent previous to that with a putty knife scraping at it.

I just replaced my water pump while doing a timing chain job. I used some stuff that melts the gasket stuff pretty much. But it doesn't work that great on 21 year old gasket material! HA! So I used a 90* die grinder with a buffing roloc to remove the gasket material. I think that is an undesirable way to do it since a small amount of aluminum will be taken off the surface. Very little, but a gasket might not fully seal. I don't have any sealing issues as I always use a liquid gasket on stuff along with a gasket, sometimes I use the gasket stuff that is made to go on with other gaskets to help seal things. Just sayin'...

I had luck with the Permatex gasket remover, too. I was not too worried about scraping old gaskets on the cast iron block, but was worried about the same on aluminum. I did not want to cut, scrape, or nick the gasket surface while scraping. Wanted no reason for it to leak.