Gasket removal

Greetings all. my engine was running pretty rough last season and leaking oil badly, from all sides. The previous owner had almost 6 qts in this poor thing and it blows 1.5 qt/hr at 4k rpm (65 mph) Due to available space, I have the engine still on the bike but disassembled down to the crank case. large parts are on boards in the garage, small stuff is sorted away. I have gotten most of the old gaskets removed and cleanup up pretty good but two areas defy me.

- The vacuum chambers atop the exhaust cam shaft are nearly welded in, the aluminum is softer than them.
- The crank case-cylinder gasket is mostly off but there is a lot of residue baked into the crank case. How clean does this need to be for a good seal? I'm a bit leery of taking scraper, steel wool, or scotch pads to the area out of fear that I'll slip up and either damage the case or get debris inside it.

Is there a tool or solvent you recommend?

I had accually used a 1 sided razor blade. Run it across a piece of 220 grit sand paper on one side to debur it and used that side down against the surface your cleaning, go slow and try not to gouge the surface.
It takes time there is no quik way to do it that I found. Good luck.

I'll try it and my patience together. will report if I stumble on a faster method.

moneypit wrote: I had accually used a 1 sided razor blade.

Me too. I tried every solvent available to remove the base gasket even brake fluid but it had to be scraped off.

J.Holiday wrote: - The crank case-cylinder gasket is mostly off but there is a lot of residue baked into the crank case. How clean does this need to be for a good seal? I'm a bit leery of taking scraper, steel wool, or scotch pads to the area out of fear that I'll slip up and either damage the case or get debris inside it.

You stuff clean shop rags in the crank area around the piston rods to make sure nothing can drop down. Scrape a little while and then use the vacuum to slurp up the scrapings, then reset and scrape some more. was the worst part of my rebuild, took a couple of hours to get the cylinder base gasket off.

As bountyhunter suggested, use clean rags to plug the areas. And even then you have to be extremely careful when removing the rags so no debris falls in. I used a sharp plexiglass tool to get the big stuff off, then I used Roloc ScotchBrite red and green drill attachment pads to get it completely clean. I think I bought knock offs of the 3m version from Harbor Frieght. I used WD40 when using this method instead of doing it dry.

I used a piece of copper pipe ; pointed on the end and sharpened worked good

Yes there are solvents! aka Gasket Remover by Permatex or other.
www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Pe...dentifier=35009_0_0_

It won't do all the work for you but it will soften much of the gasket and make it much easier to delicately scrape off. I've repeated the process three times between scrapings for the most difficult job on a KZ650 recently.

Also , this stuff is great to clean the outside engine from old dried dirt and oil! pretty nifty. I think the active chemical is methylchloride.

Good luck!

That Permatex stuff is good. It will eat paint off the engine so you might want to spray it in a cup then dab it on with an acid brush or maybe a Q-tip (lay down a good thick coat). Let the stuff work for about 20 mins. then scrape with a single edge razor blade. The top layer of the gasket will be softened. Reapply the sauce a second time as needed. If you can force yourself to wait for the sauce to do it's thing, it will save you a lot of hand labor.

Good luck.

Hey all, I haven't abandoned the thread just yet. Just started a trade crash course that has eaten all my time.

After much painstaking scrape scrub spray and scrape, I got the beast clean enough. Hardest part was on the crank case between pistons, vertical bolts, etc. Wish I had seen the Permatex Gasket Remover post in time, will remember for next time. Thanks for the ideas.

A note for future readers: Don't be a cheapskate. wash that engine before popping it open. Red scotchpads are amazing but must be use carefully as they can gouge aluminum. WD-40 works slightly better than carb cleaner for this project.

People that read this post that don't know might want to invest in a good pair of rubber gloves. The Permatex gasket remover removes skin pretty good too

Thanks for that, I'll have to get a pair. The carb cleaner and steel wool was pretty rough on the fingers too. soaked out a couple pair of leather gloves.