Has anyone tried to replace that stupid piece of paper gasket that seals the impeller housing?
I always inspect the impeller for any broken pieces but opening the cap also destroys the paper gasket. D2-55 has an O-ring gasket which last long time.
any thoughts / ideas?
Yes, with just a single gasket, but more if you have them, I photo-copied the gasket first on to plain white paper, turning the contrast up on the copier in order for the photocopy to show up dark against the white background of the copy paper. Making several copies I could then paste them all together side by side until I had enough to cover a single A4 sheet of paper to use as a template, checking as I went that the copies were all done at 1:1 ratio so that they remained exactly the same size as the original. Next I went to eBay and bought several sheets of gasket paper of 0.4mm thickness, and using the template I photocopied it to the gasket paper, see photo below, and I apologise for it's rather grainy appearance.
Next I selected a small hole punch from a set that I have and which I'd purchased some months earlier to make the perforations for the screw holes, doing this before cutting each gasket with a scalpel, doing the interior area first and lastly cutting the external outline. The hole punches were not expensive and make a better job of cutting the screw holes than a scalpel.
Whether you think that all worth doing, is up to you, but I don't know where else one can get a supply of cooling water pump gaskets without also having to buy the impeller as well, though no doubt one of the readers will be able to point us all in the right direction.
Until then I have a supply of the gaskets I need for relatively little outlay of cash. Whether you think that all worthwhile is up to you, but it works for me.