wiseco gaskets / base gasket

i had put my motor together and im getting an annoying leak (wetness) from the bottom gasket or orings. i want to change out the gasket and orings (going with kawasaki gaskets this time but my question is.. can I re-use my fiber/steel core wiseco gasket or should i order a new one?

replace it you already crushed the fire ring! never reuse a head gasket

The Kaws with stock studs have issues with base gasket leakage. The Wiseco / Cometic should be a better item than oem.

Jay

Well the motor is obviously not stock bore, so im going with the wiseco head gasket.. and i just noticed cometic has a head gasket that fits this wiseco kit.. interesting..

but alas, the problem is on the base gasket, not the top.

Why are the studs an issue?

eel wrote:

but alas, the problem is on the base gasket, not the top.

The base gasket on the rebuild kit I used on my 750 also failed. I made the next one out of the vulcanized fiber gasket material (rubberized paper) they sell at Kragen's which is .032" thick. I think the type number stamped on the paper is 8904 or similar. I cut it out with an X-acto knife and it has held up great.

If you have a base gasket leak, use Yamaha 3-bond or similar on the base gasket. That type of adhesive was used at the factory on the base gasket of my 750 and it ran 30 years without leaking. IMHO, base gaskets need to be affixed with it because you might have to pull the head at some point and you wouldn't want the cylinder rocking the base gasket seal loose while you are yanking on the head.

i was going to 1194 the next base gasket even though the shop manual says not to. there are already areas of the head gasket the manual says to apply sealant to (i used 1194).

i think, even without the adhesive, there is some kind of bonding that happens because i have never had a cylinder come off clean from the crankcases, th base gaskets are always ripped and broken even if they have only been on a few weeks.

eel wrote:

Well the motor is obviously not stock bore, so im going with the wiseco head gasket.. and i just noticed cometic has a head gasket that fits this wiseco kit.. interesting..

but alas, the problem is on the base gasket, not the top.

Why are the studs an issue?

All Wiseco gaskets are Cometic. When the engine is running, it is trying to lift the head and block off of the cases, With modified motors, this is even more pronounced. The stock studs will stretch while the engine is running and this lets the cylinder block pound out the base gasket.

The California Highway Patrol had a problem with this, requiring the mechanics to pull the entire top end to replace base gaskets. We took the problem to Cometic, and they made us base gaskets for the CHP that would live.

I won't even tell you how many big bore Kawasakis CHP had on the road:woohoo:

Jay

Hey thanks Jay. Will a set of aftermarket studs help solve the issue ?

The bike is a road racer (see my web page) so it spends most of its days around 8000prm, stretching the studs

eel wrote:

Hey thanks Jay. Will a set of aftermarket studs help solve the issue ?

The bike is a road racer (see my web page) so it spends most of its days around 8000prm, stretching the studs

Yes, by all means, that bike needs aftermarket studs.
kzzone.com/studs.html

Jay

i will order some studs... should i get anything else while im there that could help in other areas ? some nuts aswell i suppose.

is it easy to change out the studs? Special tool?