Homemade Gaskets - What do you use?

I've owned 77 cars in my 45 years of driving, out of those only 3 were under warranty - forbidden to touch. On the others, I usually kept them running with secondhand parts or tweaked the carb or replaced the fuel pump, using good old Kellogs Cornflakes box cardboard. Never did that with valve cover gaskets, although I did have one old Hilman that I made one with pure silicone. No internet back then.

Anyway I wondered if anyone had a favourite homefound material they used that worked. Kellogs cardboard or wine-bottle separators in the liquor store boxes, not corrugated, always came through in a pinch, cause you usually only got new ones in kits, where I lived.

 

I used like you have a cereal box for my diff cover on the truck awhile back never saw a leak again... Other than that I have a big tube of RTV silicone lol

 

Forgot about that. me too!

 

FRAM filter boxes.

 

Corn flakes box for a fuel pump or carb i can't remember.

 

The Fel Pro package itself makes a great gasket.

 

Paper or Plastic?

Back when you got paper bags at the grocery they worked good for the oil pump on big block Mopars!

 

synthetic shammies...!

 

Where did you use those? Wouldn't they melt?

 

water neck under the thermostat housings, but if that was the case wouldnt paper burn???