Sorbo pads n stuff

[Sitting Duck]

First thing Neoprene is NOT as effective as Sobothane !!!!

Sobothane is not as cheap To do anything properly will involve a bit more time & money

Often the perfect solution will be a mix of both with neo protecting sorbo as it is a bit too squishy to be solely used

When doing AOE - every box is different - some might need 2mm correcting

others might need 5 or 6mm correction - one or two may need next to nothing

Ultimate silent piston/cylinder head needed next to nothing - well due to the size/shape I couldn't fit one really

but a smidge was required of about 1mm-ish. In this case I trimmed a neo washer (trimmed coz it does compress)

trmmed the washer - aprox 2.5mm off the washer all way round - now 15mm diameter

mount behind piston head and tightened piston & piston head - it squished a bit but dropped AOE back 1mm for better AOE

On other boxes normally 3 to 4mm is the norm. how this is performed is going down to user

The neo washers do work out a very cheap & easy method to correct this

BUT not as squishy or impact absorbing as Sorbothene.

Now Sorbo sheet can be purchased and cut/shaped/drilled but that is if you wish to do all that yourself

Airlabs sorbo pad will cost you about £9 on its own and "may" still need a little work like most stuff

Sorbothene is not as cheap as Neoprene but it does offer better impact and no doubt will prolong the gearbox against cracking

But Neoprene pad won't be worse than stock and imho will offer a bit more protection than running stock like before

I still stand by the easy to apply neo washers as a no frills easy to apply cheapo method

but have ordered up some sorbothane to make up a "proper" sorbo pad but it wasn't cheap n cheerful price

(compared to neoprene - but then the best don't come cheap)

Will it be worth it - dunno yet but it is the proper way to do it

will my gearbox with neo just break off - ergh I really don't think so as it its still a bit better than stock

Will I personally rip open previous boxes - nope lets see how bare neoprene boxes shatter

(if I re-do them I'll never know I guess)

All I will do is use a sorbo/neo combo mix in my next overhaul or if one of the old neo boxes needs attention I will perhaps re-do the pad

but I ain't gonna rip open a box just yet.

Suppose the ultimate test once finding the correct or best mix of sorbo/neo is to do do 2 brittle plastic gearboxes

and put then on 11.1v and see how quickly they shake & shatter themselves to bits

(yes sorbo is the favourite but how by how much will it beat the simple neoprene)

One final thing - often on correcting AOE you may get a small void or outer ring space if using say 20mm sorbo/neo pads

Often thought this void is a wasted space of air than isn't expelled as piston hits home

this void can be filled quite nicely with an old knackered piston o-ring and does a nice job too

(sort of helping to seal head better with an additional o-ring too)

To affix the old piston o-ring into the void around the pads you will need some super glue

depending on what you have to hand in case you do not have Loctite Super Glue.....

No to No More Nails or any other stuff - uhmmm got this Wonder or Ultra Glue tube will that do ???

look at the back and check what is in there.....

cyanoacrylate - yup that is what you want

It fuses rubber - when I say fuses I mean it don't just stick like a sticky tape or label does

it REALLY binds them together so much you will not be able to pull them apart easily without it breaking to bits

(ok you can soak them in hot soapy water but you get the idea of what I mean by fuses them together)

The neo is a cheap easy to aplly solution - not the ultimate & best solution but many seek an easy improvement

but like everything if you want the best you need to pay and often put in the time fitting stuff correctly too

if anybody is paranoid will my box break in two.....

I'm not rushing out re-doing my previous boxes just yet

I am gonna wait until next service and see how a proper sorbo/neo pad works in comparison in the mean time

Until I have done more tests though I will ease up on my own recommendations

I'm still learning and do appreciate any input that helps all of our stuff run better

 

[Lozart]

One thing to add, if you decide to buy Sorbo sheet and do it yourself you should look for 70D hardness. There's lots of 40D or 50D out there designed for vibration damping but it's too soft for our needs.

Also worth mentioning is that many aftermarket cylinder heads come with a rubber pad attached. The cheaper OEM heads can have nothing at all which is where the cheap and cheerful solutions are definitely literally better than nothing!

 

[Sitting Duck]

It is all a learning game and due to all boxes being different - work will always be needed

I have sourced some genuine quality sorbo - so it said, better be

didn't specify the degree of hardness but said genuine sorbo at a possible easy to fit measurements

hopefully of the right amount of thickness to use in most instances

a "sorbo" sandwich I guess - not all sorbo as that is perhaps too squishy but a mix with neo on top

anyway - I find out when they arrive

When the AOE came apart on me - the stock pad on head just fell off whilst testing a v3

I thought wtf ??? but the neo's were there it was crappy yellowy glue used to stick stock pad to head

I researched wtf I use to glue it all back and found the superglue but ensure any glue or brand contains that cyan thingymajig

Other heads like SHS have seemed very good fitting so far, it was a cheap v3 head that worked well but the stock pad was pi$$ poorly glued

Lesson learned again and now I do a quick light peel test on head first - the remaining crappy blue heads were removed, cleaned and reglued

(they just came off without a fuss or any bits of rubber left on there - really crap glue was used on there)

I could remove and reglue stock pads on SHS etc... but they may tear in removing and some pads are bigger/fatter than my 20mm neo's

so I peel test now and decide from there....

This n that n check this n that may all sound like a lot of messing about when we work on boxes....

But if you want a box to run better very often it isn't just money buying good quality parts

You have gotta check n check n check everything is as absolutely good as you can really get it

and even the ultra high end gearbox is only ever gonna be as good as its weakest part/area

poxy boxes