what's best way to remove old gasket?

3m makes a round pad thats looks like a welcome mat. green in color. it is made for a small grinder to work with aluminum. if any dust from the wheel gets in the motor, it will dissolve in the oil. the scotch brite wheels leave parts of themselves in the motor and continure to be abraseve.

Apply oven cleaner with a brush, then wait a bit. Single sided razor blade works well, and can often smoothly pass under large sections without damaging anything.

Cheers. Good luck.

newOld_kz1000 wrote:

bountyhunter wrote:

Brake fluid will dissolve most gaskets. I use a single sided razor blade to scrape the flanges, then polish with scotchbrite pad.

Thanks, was worried about getting oven cleaner on the anodized parts of the engine cases -- the brake fluid will be much easier to control as it's applied -- thanks.

have you seen what brake fluid does to painted surfaces? :laugh:

a buddy of mine used a hand grinder to remove the gaskets from his 750. ask him how it worked out :laugh:

PLUMMEN wrote:

newOld_kz1000 wrote:

bountyhunter wrote:

Brake fluid will dissolve most gaskets. I use a single sided razor blade to scrape the flanges, then polish with scotchbrite pad.

Thanks, was worried about getting oven cleaner on the anodized parts of the engine cases -- the brake fluid will be much easier to control as it's applied -- thanks.

have you seen what brake fluid does to painted surfaces? :laugh:

Yeah, I used to paint cars and had to fix that. But I don't think that's applicable since the parts in question are unfinished aluminum.

im thinking about the frame or anything it happens to spill on :laugh:

jordan wrote:

a buddy of mine used a hand grinder to remove the gaskets from his 750. ask him how it worked out :laugh:

:woohoo:

PLUMMEN wrote:

jordan wrote:

a buddy of mine used a hand grinder to remove the gaskets from his 750. ask him how it worked out :laugh:

:woohoo:

Okay, I feel a bit better about my bike wrenching back in 1976 there, when I relied on a hardened-steel chisel to remove gaskets from my first bike, a '76 cb400four.

"The issue with stupid decisions is not that you learn from them, but that you seem hard-wired to make NEW stupid decisions in every future problem-solving effort."
Anon

yes, i wouldnt say that his bike leaked after the rebuild. i prefer to use the word "Spewed"