Engine Gasket Removal Tips?

I used a razor blade build into a plastic holder and was really careful to get all mine off. Then put all NOS pan, clutch, base gasket etc on dry except for a trace of grease on the valve cover and sprayed copper coat on the base gasket to hold it in place while lowering the cyl over the pistons. It has a very small circular area that goes around the outside that seals around a o ring for the oil passage and wanted it to fit as good as possible there.

I left the area in the middle of the base gasket where it is rubberized from the factory alone with no copper spray there. Also had my head ground by APE ..... only took .004 and then used the Wiesco gasket that came with the kit....... no leaks at all after 2 + years and just under 1,000 miles except for a drop or two around those dam cam end plugs once in a while ..... will re seal them again next time I check the valves. Glad the 650 and 750 don't have that o ring around the cam tunnel .... sounds like a problem sometimes on it.

Lots of heat in that area. NOS didn't help. It doesn't make sense to use 30/40 year old rubber. Seems like the new stuff isn't the quality of the old though. The rubber grommet at the alternator was a problem for years too. Now you can buy a new one.
Steve

I hate to admit defeat but I'm pretty much at the point where I'm going to put this thing back together and sell it. I've got my eye on one of the new Ninja 300's as a replacement.

With this bike, I can only say I "kind of" ride motorcycles because there's always a potentially serious problem with it. It would be nice to actually use all the gear I have. :lol:

Back to the original subject... I have a Green Roloc on order now.

What's that?
Steve

83KZ750LTD wrote: Back to the original subject... I have a Green Roloc on order now.

Here is what I used:

www.harborfreight.com/complete-sanding-disc-kit-43029.html .

Used the green and had to use the one step up from green for certain sections. But was careful when I used the one which was more course. Did not see it take any metal away. I'm sure the ones that are a courser probably could eat metal. On the hard baked on stuff I would first spray WD-40 and it would swell the surface of the baked on gasket after a few minutes. Then I would use the roloc. I had to repeat this process on few sections. But at least the drill is doing all the work for you.

The copper gasket spray ( www.permatex.com/products-2/product-cate...-temp-sealant-detail ) helps with leak prevention and aides in assembly to keeps the gasket from moving. But my main reason for using it was to aide in removing the gasket the next time I disassemble the top end. The same goes when I used the film of waterproof grease on the base gasket of the jugs. Tried both to see which one works best.

I recently went through my kz440 and had some serious issues with getting gaskets off. What ended up working best for me was b12 berryman chemtool cleaner, a stack of scotchbrite pads, and large assortment of craft beers. It took about a week and most of the skin from my fingers to get all of the gasket surfaces cleaned,

A rotary tool with scotchbrite attachments did wonders too.

I haven't had that problem with good quality gaskets.
Steve

swest wrote: Lots of heat in that area. NOS didn't help. It doesn't make sense to use 30/40 year old rubber. Seems like the new stuff isn't the quality of the old though. The rubber grommet at the alternator was a problem for years too. Now you can buy a new one.
Steve

Won't argue on this but I just didn't trust a after market base gasket....... On the base gasket there is a newer Kawasaki one used on the 93 Zepher and mid 90s Ninja I picked it up in 12 so i'm hoping it was 10 years old or less ? Also on the oil pan gasket, clutch cover gasket, 3 oil pan o rings and the Kaw clutch plates the sealed packages from Japan had a very recent date less than a few months to a few weeks old from Partzilla so I was very happy on that....... glad the 650/750 doesn't have the o ring seal around the tunnel like yours or I would have done the sealing like you did for sure.

The 6 rubber pads and the 4 larger ones I got from Z1 (for the cam chain gears) along with the smaller rubber cam chain wheel didn't come with dates so they might have been around a while..... also the oval and round o rings for the oil passages but what can you do there .....I got a Liska to replace the larger top rubber wheel so that's not a worry if Liska would have made the smaller wheel I would have got that with the upper too but they don't. Now that I thought about it I did buy their after market valve cover gasket and its fine after removing the cover twice.

To bad your thinking of giving up 83 KZ ..... I almost said to hell with it after the starter clutch started acting up last year and even thought about buying something new...... almost getting to old to be working this beast.

Gasket remover does work - spray it on, scrape it off. Keep it off your hands, it's scary stuff.

If you're cleaning near rubber or paint, I use a razor, then engine degreaser and a scotch-brite pad (the green scrubby pad from the kitchen). They can dull aluminium, so be sure to not rub on any shiny surfaces.

Brake fluid will soften some gaskets. You could take an eyedropper and drop out some of the toxic stuff in the chem-dip can (wear gloves). Single edge blade and much time is what I used.