Valve cover gasket

KowalskiCW wrote: Yea I was thinking about those too but I think I'll just reuse mine with some silicone as KZB2 mentions as mine are in pretty good shape and not dry rotted.

Mine are Pingel solid aluminum ones. Just a little silicone around the bottom and good to go. I didn't even pull them out when I shimmed the valves a couple months back. Didn't even put any silicone across the top, just reused my old gasket as it was good and no leaks so now I have an extra gasket.

If the end plugs are not leaking, don't remove them. Once removed and resealed they will always leak right away. Mileage varies on this, but my experience over the years.

wow do I love Z1...got the gasket in 2 days and it's the exact fit. So I was going to put a thin layer of silicone sealer on the head side of the gasket and try the grease on the cover side for easy removal in the future. Any other suggestions? I also wanted to check my valves for clearance and such but have never done so before. I have a Clymers manual...will that get me thru it?

KowalskiCW wrote: wow do I love Z1...got the gasket in 2 days and it's the exact fit. So I was going to put a thin layer of silicone sealer on the head side of the gasket and try the grease on the cover side for easy removal in the future. Any other suggestions? I also wanted to check my valves for clearance and such but have never done so before. I have a Clymers manual...will that get me thru it?

Don't do it! Put the gasket on dry - no sealant. If you install it dry it will come off easily next time and be reusable. Sealant is not needed to prevent it from leaking; that's what the gasket does.

Here's my view on using sealant; others may disagree. If the idea of putting sealant on a gasket is to prevent a leak, please consider the following. Let's say you have two metal surfaces, i.e. a cylinder head and a valve cover, and there's a gasket that goes between the two. The purpose of the gasket is to prevent oil from leaking between the two metal components. So let's say you put the gasket in there dry (no sealant at all) and bolt the cover to the head squeezing the gasket between the two. Now consider if you could see that cover/gasket/head joint from inside the engine. You would see metal (the head), the inner edge of the gasket, and metal (the valve cover). Now you splash plenty of oil inside that area so the joint is soaked in it. Now looking from inside the engine you see oily metal (head), the oily inner edge of the gasket, and oily metal (the valve cover). If the oil is going to seep between the metal and the gasket will the oil care if it seeps between the head and the gasket or the valve cover and the gasket? No; if it is going to leak it can leak on the head side OR the valve cover side of the gasket. So, IF the only way to prevent a leak was to put sealant on the gasket you would need to put it on both sides. Fortunately, the dry gasket will not leak on either side, so no sealant is needed. This assumes no one has gouged the metal mating surfaces when trying to remove a gasket that some previous owner has glued on because they didn't know sealant was not needed. In that case sealant may be needed but only on the gouged area.

This brings up another point; in the Kawasaki service manual there are a FEW areas where sealant is called for. The best example I can give is a spot on the KZ650 clutch cover gasket. The manual calls for sealant on the (about 1 inch) spot on the engine side of the clutch cover gasket where the gasket covers a joint between the lower and upper engine castings. This is required because mating surface has a seam at this engine casing joint which the gasket alone may not seal. This may not be obvious to someone doing this job the first time. So my best advice is to always consult the service manual to see if and where sealant is required rather than just gluing the gaskets on and later having to scrape them off. Also, you'll save money by not needing to replace gaskets as often because the ones put on dry can be more easily reused. The CD recording of this speech is available at the door. Ed

RTV is no good for anything in my opinion, but some use it. Yamabond #4 is a much better choice. What I do is just put a little Yamabond #4 on top of all 4 cam end plugs extending an inch or so out onto the surface of the head, then install the gasket and cover. Next time the cover needs to be removed just be careful it stays on the head and the cover will come right off and the gasket can be reused indefinately. I never seal otherwise and never have leaks.

In my experience, with mating surfaces cleaned to "as new" condition, the gasket installed dry doesn't leak, and is re-useable through many removals and replacements of the cover.

The half moons, after cleaning (with the head area also cleaned) may be re-used and installed with a very thin application of silicone seal on the edges, which assures seal within the head area and against the new dry gasket.

Good Fortune!

Put mine on dry except for "very" fine coat of grease to the cover ..... the black silicone was only on the bottom of the 4 plugs and I may go with Yamabond next time.

Alright it sounds like dry is the way to go. Glad I didn't just jump into it this weekend. So as for valves...will Clymers get me thru it or do I need the actual shop manual?

KowalskiCW wrote: Alright it sounds like dry is the way to go. Glad I didn't just jump into it this weekend. So as for valves...will Clymers get me thru it or do I need the actual shop manual?

Here'a very helpful post by RonKZ650:

RonKZ650 wrote: Yes, you need to lock the tensioner as you already know. This is the 6mm bolt on the side of the tensioner body. To lock the tensioner, simply remove that short bolt and thread in a longer bolt that will tighten against the tensioner to hold it in place. After this is done remove your valve cover. If you're careful and no moron has used gasket sealer you can remove the cover without ruining the gasket and it can be reused indefinately. Now to be safe turn the motor over clockwise with a 17mm socket on the right end of the crank until your timing marks for 1-4 indicate TDC. Now look at the cams and see the arrow on the exhaust sprocket pointing straight forward aligned with the top surface of the head and your intake facing straight back lining up with the top of the head. If the arrows are not this way, turn the motor over 1 complete revolution until 1-4 are again at TDC. Now you have cams in correct position should an accident happen during disassembly. Now the way to remove the cams as to not disturb the timing. Of course first remove the center idler sprocket from between the cams and now work on one cam at a time. Remove all 4 cam caps from one cam, push down on the chain where your center idler was and at the same time lift the cam towards the center of the engine. Be sure and keep the chain tight going down in the engine and keep all slack between the cams. Once the cam is in the center of the engine you can do your shim swaps, then carefully reposition the cam in place. The important part is keep all slack between the cams and the chain always tight going down into the engine. Bolt up the caps and you're done with that cam. Repeat for the other cam. Do it right and timing has not been goofed up. This is direct from Kawasaki 4/77 service bulletin. Get it all bolted up, reinstall your short bolt in the tensioner and you're done. Tighten cam caps to 8ft/lb or less.

Good Fortune!

So Patton that post...was that more for the gasket gripe of putting on dry or was that to give me info on checking valve clearance and adjusting? I'm not sure what to take from that haha.

KowalskiCW wrote: . . . So as for valves...will Clymers get me thru it or do I need the actual shop manual?

KowalskiCW wrote: . . . was that to give me info on checking valve clearance and adjusting? . . . .

Yes, to hopefully help avoid pitfalls incident to adjusting valve clearances.

Measuring the valve clearances to determine whether they're within specs is relatively easy -- just use thickness (feeler) gauges between the cam base and lifter bucket with the cam lobe pointed directly away from the bucket to obtain the maximum clearance position between cam and bucket.

Where clearance adjustment becomes necessary, the job gets more complicated, because the KZ650 has replaceable adjustment shims located under the buckets where they're hidden from sight and inaccessible without first removing the cam shaft.

Absent due care and proper procedure, removal and replacing the camshafts may easily result in stripped cam cap bolts and/or bent valves, which reportedly happens to lots of folks, especially when first attempting to adjust the valve clearances on engines with "under bucket shims" such as the KZ650.

Good Fortune!

Awesome info then thanks for the tip! I will hopefully just have to check the clearance as the motor only has 15k on it and seemed to pull very strong the last 2 years I've had it.