No oil pan gasket?

I spoke to Jeff at Z1 yeaterday, he said they don't currently offer an individal oil pan gasket for a KZ650

seanof30306 wrote:

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I am curious. Why wouldn't something like Permatex #598 RTV work? I've ised it on cars before with no problems, but those were steel pans to cast iron blocks. Is there something about aluminum to aluminum that creates a problem?

First off, please note that I said 'in my mind', it´s not necessarily a definite truth. I just don´t like to use liquid sealants where I could use a gasket. Also if you look at the pic Patton posted above the red stuff is excess sealant that squeezed out when the covers were tightened down (which looks like ass if you ask me). An equal amount of sealant will squeeze out on the inside - from what I heard silicone is prone to peeling off so you run a risk of bits of silicone floating around in your oil and possibly clogging up your oil ways. May be just rumours but I like to play it safe.

And I agree with Bountyhunter, I like to keep a roll of gasket paper around - you tend to need a gasket on weekends or half an hour after the bike shop closed.

Btw Bounty, I also agree that the dealer was trying to rob you, you can get a complete Vesrah gasket kit (including valve stem seals and exhaust copper gaskets) for just around a 100 bucks. I know some people swear by OEM gaskets, but I´ve been using Vesrah gaskets in all my bikes for the past 20 years, never had a problem.

Most of the gaskets, O-rings and seals fit on the scanner w/no problem. For the right side cover and the oilpan gaskets, I have to scan in 2 parts. I then print on paper, tape the 2 parts together and use that as a stencil, lightly glue the stencil to the gasket material, then cut the gasket out. Works well.
At the time I originally suggested this on KZr, another member suggested that you could probably get a good gasket stencil if you were to just scan the part, itself. Haven't done that.

Confirming OnkelB's concerns:

The 77-79KZ1000 FSM specifies the only places requiring liquid gasket are crankcase bolts, cylinder stud bolts, and front fork bottom Allen bolts. And says, Do not apply [liquid gasket] excessively, because excessive amounts could block the engine oil passages and cause serious engine damage.

Good luck with the new gasket.

Seanof30306,
Sorry, I misunderstood what you're looking for. What year/model KZ are you trying to fix up? Ed

OnkelB wrote:

Btw Bounty, I also agree that the dealer was trying to rob you, you can get a complete Vesrah gasket kit (including valve stem seals and exhaust copper gaskets) for just around a 100 bucks. I know some people swear by OEM gaskets, but I´ve been using Vesrah gaskets in all my bikes for the past 20 years, never had a problem.

I haven't tried Vesrah because they don't make a gasket set for an old 1979 750 twin so I have no experience with them. The only source for mine was Athena, that's what I got to do the rebuild on mine last September. It all went together and ran perfect ..... and then the cylinder base gasket disintegrated about 30 minutes after I fired up the engine. I had to do the entire tear down again, and a piston ring popped putting the cylinder back on. So, about $200 more and four weeks later, I had learned a painful lesson about not using aftermarket gaskets in critical places......