stupid head/block o-rings

McMaster Carr is a great source for SS hardware, O-Rings and whatever. Their prices and shipping are reasonable. If there was to be a Nuke war this is the warehouse you want to be trapped in. Check out their catalog. www.mcmaster.com

Sorry to bring up an old post but this is an important issue. I just had this problem with my 1981 kz1100 which I've just done a valve job on. My o rings don't look that bad but they should be replaced. They are VERY hard to find from a dealer or Z1 BUT: they are a simple O ring made fom viton. That's an expensive o ring, it costs like 30 cents apiece from the source. Oh, Kawastealer wants like $15 each? I just bought 25 for $8. If you pm me, I'll send up to 4 no charge because I don't need 25. These are probably the same ones being sold on ebay as EOM but they are as good IMHO or better. Or..I can tell you where to get them!

For carb rings, no doubt stay with fuel resistant products or preferably exact matching OEM... As mentioned, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet...

Example: Valve seals... OEM is the only way to go... I learned the hard way and when you have to have them replaced.... Requires new head gasket and they cost $50... Hard lesson learned... Damn it... should have listened to Larry and not gone cheap.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Best $10 I've ever spent....

Just for an oil ring.... Whola!

You have to be careful with these o-rings as they are NOT a round cross-section. The oval shape is there for a reason. The cross-section is roughly 50% higher than wider.


We are still trying to get some of these. We were promised them months ago - then they didn't arrive. The supplier should finally (hopefully) have some inside of 2 months.

This past year has been a very difficult one in the industry. Lots of smaller companies feeding the bigger OEM's have gone out of business.

Genuine OEM parts are drying up - so don't assume they will be there tomorrow. Barely a week goes by without Kawasaki (and the other OEM's) discontinuing another few parts. Recently it's been clutch pushrods, neutral switches and more.

Every gasket "set" I have ever bought has come with these "O" rings. I just checked the 3 sets that I own for a variety of bikes and they all have these "O" rings. I also noticed that when you switch to a one piece aftermarket head gasket, it eliminates all of the "O" rings. The big one in the center and these two for the oil passages. When I rebuilt my last motor for the GPz1150 I did not use them because there was no provisions in the headgasket for them. The head has not leaked yet. Explain that to me! All the original Kawalski "O" rings were Neoprene (Polychloroprene) or more likely Buna-N (Nitrile)which used to be and in many cases is still the choice of rubber for automotive use. Today you can replace all of that with "Viton" These "O" rings can come in black or more usually green. "Viton" is resistant to more chemicals, such as Ethanol which Buna-N is not. Viton@ (DuPont LLC) also will not harden and will withstand much higher temperatures. "Do not" use Viton where it may come in contact with Water. In that case go back to Buna-N (Nitrile) In my opinion Viton is the ONLY choice for valve stem seals.

Otto

Otto... You must be a Viton salesman/rep... :blink: easy killer.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Jeff, as you know from my postings, I always prefer OEM/direct replacements... Hell my orders through you at Z1 proves that!

But as for the rings in this kit, I just ran into a leak where the only 2 o-rings I forgot about in my engine build :ohmy: ... well guess what, freaking leaked.... :laugh: :laugh: They sat under the oil switch pipe...

Babbitts:
SKU: 670B2018
"0" RING,18MM 2 $2.97

For the price of these plus shipping, paid for the kit and they where the same size...

As mentioned, sometimes you have to bite the bullet....
It's all up to you which way you go....

One thing I forgot to mention. Starting in 1983 these "O" rings were eliminated on all 1100 "J" series motors (GPz, LTD)

Are these used on the KZ900? Where are they located at?

Old Man Rock wrote:

Otto... You must be a Viton salesman/rep... :blink: easy killer.... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Jeff, as you know from my postings, I always prefer OEM/direct replacements... Hell my orders through you at Z1 proves that!

But as for the rings in this kit, I just ran into a leak where the only 2 o-rings I forgot about in my engine build :ohmy: ... well guess what, freaking leaked.... :laugh: :laugh: They sat under the oil switch pipe...

Babbitts:
SKU: 670B2018
"0" RING,18MM 2 $2.97

For the price of these plus shipping, paid for the kit and they where the same size...

As mentioned, sometimes you have to bite the bullet....
It's all up to you which way you go....

The actual orings hes looking for are #92055...8 bucks a piece!

www.babbittsonline.com/pages/parts/viewbybrand/default.aspx

I went around town looking for suitable replacements at plumbing places, but nothing was quite right...it was always a touch too big or too small. I ended up finding some on eBay for like 2 bucks for all 4 and they were NOS. I was worried that they would be hard and crappy, but they were like new.

No I'm not, wish I was. Just that, in my last job I had the opportunity to study most of these synthetic compounds. This gave me a very good education of them. Viton is a MUST for todays "Flex Fuel" cars. Also because all automotive gasoline today has a minimum of 10% Ethanol (some has quite a bit more)this will make Nitrile decompose. For this reason I use Viton seals in carburetors where ever possible. What most people do not realize is that Ethanol or E85 fuel is extremely corrosive, unlike Gasoline. This is why DuPont and BP have gone into a joint venture to produce Butanol in stead. It is non corrosive and has much closer to the energy density of gasoline. Butanol also acts on seals the same way as Gasoline will and will not deteriorate them. I have been running 20% Butanol in my KZ900 for about 3 years now. I did not even have to re-jet it. The only problem is that it makes the bike cold blooded. Until it is hot, it likes to cut out a lot with 20% Butanol.

"I was worried that they would be hard and crappy, but they were like new.".... :laugh:

Damn big man, I swear you're going to be gray/bald by the time your finished with this build.... :laugh: :laugh:

I am thinking about putting my head back on today and wanted to know are these orings used on the kZ900? I didn't remember seeing them, but I have had it apart for some time now.