NOS Parts now (ebay)

anyone dealt with this ebay seller before? They have pretty good reviews and lots of supposedly NOS OEM parts, some in original packaging but a lot that isn't. Can't blame me for wondering about the stuff that isn't in original packaging
.   
www.ebay.com/str/nospartsnow

You have to know what you are looking at.
Many sellers do not know what they are selling.
nos = new old stock, any part could have been made in china last year and that is nos.
 

73z1 wrote:

You have to know what you are looking at.
Many sellers do not know what they are selling.
nos = new old stock, any part could have been made in china last year and that is nos.

 

Most of their stock is NOS and OEM, so its the OEM part I'm mostly wondering about. Without the OEM packaging and without an unused verified OEM product in hand to compare it to it may be hard to know even with the parts in hand. I was specifically looking at their gaskets, which they have a LOT of.  

Be careful with gaskets, depending how old they are and how they have been stored they may have hardened and won’t seal

Wookie58 wrote:

Be careful with gaskets, depending how old they are and how they have been stored they may have hardened and won’t seal

So what do you recommend then? All OEM gaskets for our bikes are going to be 40 years old, most with unknown storage history. Keyster and K&L have bad to middlin reviews. 

82KZ305Belt wrote:

Wookie58 wrote:

Be careful with gaskets, depending how old they are and how they have been stored they may have hardened and won’t seal

So what do you recommend then? All OEM gaskets for our bikes are going to be 40 years old, most with unknown storage history. Keyster and K&L have bad to middlin reviews. 

It's not quite that bad, all vehicle manufacturers are obligated to supply spare parts for (I believe) 10 years after a model goes out of production. Add to that where the OEM is a supplier to the factory and not produced "in house" the OEM will often continue to produce parts where there is a demand past that point. I have just bought the gaskets for my project and all are either "Cometic" or OEM from CMNSL. NOS will always be a "crap shoot" . Where you mentioned stuff advertised as OEM but not in Kawasaki packaging, this could be from the OEM but not supplied via the Kawasaki dealer network (maybe) in this case the OEM is not allowed to use branded packaging  !!!!!!!!!!

Belt305 NPN has always been a consistent ebay performer!! I've purchased countless bits from them over the years. When choosing a ebay vendor simply look at their history and consider all the NuTs or ill-informed buyers they have to deal with. Often if one looks thru the sellers neutral or negative feedback you will note a common theme. Either they knew nothing of what they were buying. Ham-fisted or poor mechanics that shouldn't be doing this stuff to start with Or those unhappy persons to start with just itching to leave a critical scathing review with No merit whatsoever. Gaskets..personally i prefer the OEM because they just fit correctly!! Cometic i've found to be especially ill-fitting, sorry Wookie ha. They hang waay over and have to be trimmed after installed. I will Not purchase OEM camcover gaskets for any 4-cyl off ebay. Even though they may look nice in the sellers photos they most likely are distorted and brittle, and will fall apart into 100pcs if trying to straighten. As Wookie mentioned go thru companies that buy fresh stuff thru Kawasaki/whatever brand. Ebay sellers, big and small, generally bought up inventory from closing shops or dealerships wanting to get this old stuff out of inventory. It's a gamble as to where the "shop" was located, humid or arid environment makes a huge deal even if wrapped in the original packaging! Have fun, Clay   

OEM does not necessarily mean they were made back in the day, but it may be true if you are buying on Ebay.  You can buy fresh OEM gaskets from your dealer, or if you prefer you can buy them from Partzilla.  I only use OEM.

   Gaskets in particular, OEM or not, can be hit or miss.
   We did a buyout of a local bike shop a couple years ago wherein we got large stocks of old OEM and repop Kawasaki, Suzuli, Honda, Yamaha gaskets.  The gray 'paper' gaskets in particular, i.e. clutch cover, points cover, base, some valve cover gaskets, etc. were dry rotted to the point they would crack in half when bent in the slightest, regardless of source.  We trashed large quantities of them before we ever offered large quantities of the remainders at Mid-Ohio the past few years.  They're mostly gone now except for a few copper items that have been a hard sell regardless of price.  The  thick OEM gaskets, i.e. dyno cover, head w/copper crush rings, oil pan etc. that are made of the thick black mottled material fare much, much better with age.
   Certain rubber and, in particular, black foam parts tend to age poorly & must be inspected / handled prior to purchase or use.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Many thanks to all who responded. I ordered some OEM bowl  gaskets from the title seller, based on asphalt's review, who I trust more than unknown anonymized ebay buyers. And his gaskets look like OEM too. Kawasaki still sells the top gaskets, but I'm not paying $140 for 4 of them. There were many available in ones and two on ebay, but I figured top gaskets are less critical so rather than order 4 gaskets from 4 different people with 4 different histories, I ordered a K&L kit, from which I will only use the top gaskets. They will be easy to replace if I regret it and I just want to get this rebuild done before my garage becomes an icicle from from waist down. 

What are You working on 305? Bowl gaskets take on a whole different connotation and if OEM NOS can surely be suspect!!!!! Here to save yourself. Old Keyster kits often contain unusable bowl gaskets! I haven't used paper for years and Ed (Nessium) and i agree to disagree at least purchase "Fresh" stock or FIRST rock the bowl within the casting without gasket. If the carb casting is warped then NO Paper Gasket in the world is going to seal it, even those "reusable" silicone touted ones. I have a different approach that has served me for decades successfully.   

asphalt900 wrote:

What are You working on 305? Bowl gaskets take on a whole different connotation and if OEM NOS can surely be suspect!!!!! Here to save yourself. Old Keyster kits often contain unusable bowl gaskets! I haven't used paper for years and Ed (Nessium) and i agree to disagree at least purchase "Fresh" stock or FIRST rock the bowl within the casting without gasket. If the carb casting is warped then NO Paper Gasket in the world is going to seal it, even those "reusable" silicone touted ones. I have a different approach that has served me for decades successfully.   
 

Not sure what you thought I was talking about. . I guess I didn't specifically mention I was looking at 650 bowl gaskets from NPN, but I was. Too late now, they are ordered. 

I didn't order anything Keyster, have heard enough bad about them to just say no.