stupid head/block o-rings

so Z1's supplier discontinued them, and OEM ones from anywhere are going to cost an arm and a leg, does anybody ever re-use these o-rings when putting motors back together?

which ones the cam chain tunnel o-ring or is it other ones that you have in mind

the little 1.8 cm ones...the cam chain hole one is in the gaket kit...but the little ones are not. Z1 has 2 oem ones at 7 bucks, bike bandit has them for 8.17, and my shop can get them for 12...each!

if they aren't crushed or torn and are reasonably soft i'd reuse them i do it all the time on my stuff.

The philosophy being...if you have gone to all that trouble to diassemble and then re-assemble your motor (mostly with new gaskets, etc. that came with the kit), why cut corners now? Bite the bullet and replace with OEM...that way you can be reasonably assured that you are minimizing any leaks from an old o-ring. I ran into the same issue when I found out Z1E could no longer obtain the proper K&L o-rings and I'd have to put in OEM...for my KZ1100.

9am53 wrote:

so Z1's supplier discontinued them, and OEM ones from anywhere are going to cost an arm and a leg, does anybody ever re-use these o-rings when putting motors back together?

I went to a local plumbing supply for O rings. They had every O ring on earth. I got the rings I needed in Viton and the guy didn't even charge me because it was such a small quantity.

Mcdroid wrote:

The philosophy being...if you have gone to all that trouble to diassemble and then re-assemble your motor (mostly with new gaskets, etc. that came with the kit), why cut corners now? Bite the bullet and replace with OEM...

My problem was that the local Stealer charges $12 for each O ring (yes, EACH one), and they didn't even have the ones I needed. The kid that worked the parts counter told me to go to a plumbing supply house.

kawasaki did not use rubber pulled from some mythical place. It is not made of the first born children of egypt.

If you can find the material, bunna, viton, or whatever; and the size; and the correct durometer, you are set!

I recommend VITON if you can find the right diameter/thickness because it is really superior to typical ruber used in O rings. That's why all the new top quality valve guide seals are made of VITON.

excellent suggestions from one and all and if was building one for a customer i would do exactly that but for my own i reuse if they are in good shape and suffer the cosequnces if they fail but i live in a small town over an hour from a major center so that is my excuse.

I will re-use the ones that I have, and that are in re-useable shape. I am a cheapskate, but I think I threw most of the o-rings out because I assumes Z1 would have them...I guess I should have listened to micheal cane...assumption is the mother of phuq up!

Thanks regarding the tip on getting them from the plumbing section, I just thought that maybe the ones used in bikes were made of some super special oil/heat/gas resistant mega rubber...

that is Viton the whizzie high tech rubber that is heat oil and gas resistent