Split head gasket vs. a 1 pc. gasket

PLUMMEN wrote: The copper gaskets are made to be used with o ringed cylinders,theyll leak like a sieve other wise.
I definitely prefer the 1 piece.

How do you know if you have an O-ring cylinder?

elkbuster wrote:

PLUMMEN wrote: The copper gaskets are made to be used with o ringed cylinders,theyll leak like a sieve other wise.
I definitely prefer the 1 piece.

How do you know if you have an O-ring cylinder?

Only know if you pull the head and gaskets to see if there is a larger diameter groove in the cylinder block, between the 2 and 3 piston where the O ring would go.
I am trying the one piece this time myself. After a few of these O rings and leaks after a few thousand miles, I'm going to go the other way now.

elkbuster wrote:

PLUMMEN wrote: The copper gaskets are made to be used with o ringed cylinders,theyll leak like a sieve other wise.
I definitely prefer the 1 piece.

How do you know if you have an O-ring cylinder?

'O' ringing - Commonly known as PIANO WIRING. a shallow groove is machined in to each liner top into which a thin wire is pressed
This wire is left proud of the surface so that it bites in to the copper gasket to create a superior seal.
See the attached pic .

I missed your post, I have a 78 kz1000 ( bike ) that I swapped out engines last year with a 77 (engine) after rebuilding the bottom half.
I ended up getting the Liska gears and bought them straight from Liska , www.liskas.com/ good people and very fast delivery out of New Jersey
Z1E was back ordered.

Larry C did the head larry@cavanaughracing.com, I can't say enough good about the guy, a true professional that does beautiful work, he has been a huge help with tips on assembly and start up procedures,
And now he is working on a fresh valve to replace the one I bent trying to change the shim using the bat wing. :pinch:

I bought a NOS o ring off of ebay but it came all bent and twisted out of shape and would not sit in the groove so I decided to use the one that came with the Vesrah top end kit , I added a little Ultra black RTV in the groove first and when I took the head back off the o-ring is still in place and looks good.

I went with the 77 jugs that only had around 30,000 miles on them and measured out much better then the 78 with close to 70,000 on it.
I did my own honing with a 320sc ball hone using a big drill running at 450rpm and did 40 - 1 second reps per cylinder and I am very pleased with the results, sorry no good pics with my shitty phone/camera.

I even shaved 3.7 grams off of the inside of # 3 piston, now they are all within 0.2grams of each other, close enough.

Not much left to do

How did you bend a valve with the bat wing?
Steve

Am thinking it doesn't matter whether using a bat-wing, or factory tool, or tie-wraps -- having both valves open at the same time in the same cylinder invites contact by the valves with each other.

Good Fortune!

Patton wrote: Am thinking it doesn't matter whether using a bat-wing, or factory tool, or tie-wraps -- having both valves open at the same time in the same cylinder invites contact by the valves with each other.

Good Fortune!

Live and learn :whistle: